


One Thing After Another

by constantconfusion14



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Au where Merlin and Morgana live, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, It's just of mix of all sorts of things I guess, Magic, Mainly focuses on Wizards characters, Of course it's not beta read why would it be, Some Whump, zouxie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 48,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27156472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constantconfusion14/pseuds/constantconfusion14
Summary: After the temporary defeat of the Arcane Order, Douxie, Archie, Merlin and Nari all flee to New York in an attempt to stay hidden. Of course, everything is easier said than done. It quickly becomes obvious that there's more to this war than they think. As if preventing the apocalypse wasn't enough, more and more responsibilities fall into their lap. It's just one thing after another.(Started out as bunch of one-shots but quickly developed a plot)
Relationships: Archie & Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Merlin (Tales of Arcadia), Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Nari, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan/Zoe, Merlin & Nari (Tales of Arcadia)
Comments: 57
Kudos: 46





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just me adjusting cannon to work in my au. This chapter does contain whump but it's also mainly cannonical so hopefully it won't be too bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thanks for clicking on this fic to read it! This is the first story I've posted in this fandom and I'm pretty excited about it. I have no idea where this story is headed as the idea started as a few connected one shots in the same au but we might end up with a plot eventually who knows (I certainly don't). Regardless, I hope you enjoy my story!

Merlin woke up suddenly, forcefully pushing himself into a sitting position. Unexpectedly, this action caused him to tumble downwards to a harsh, wooden floor. His armor clanged like a warning bell and echoed loudly. Merlin rearranged himself, taking notice of the immense pain that shot through his body. He held his head in his hands and looked up to see if he recognized the bed he’d fallen from. 

No...not bed. Couch. He groggily whipped his eyes about, taking in his surroundings and forcing himself to recognize them. For a moment it seemed like he was trying to cold read a dead language. After a few moments, though, pieces began to fall into place. The arched entryway and conjoined kitchen/dining area were familiar, as was the tidy living room he currently occupied. He must’ve been in the Lake residence. 

But why?

He was just taking notice of the cold, stillness of night that poured in from the large window above him when a panicked thumping sound alerted him to a mass of auburn hair rushing down the stairs. Ah yes, the spritely woman, Jim’s mother. She rushed to his side, wasting no time in scolding him. “What are you doing?? Can’t you follow the simplest of instructions and _rest?"_ Her hair was tousled unattractively, as if she’d just been roused from a deep sleep. 

Merlin glared back at her, thoroughly unhappy at his current circumstances. He hated not being in control in the first place. Being berated by a simple, finite person was certainly not improving matters. Merlin placed one hand on the ground to push himself up but the striking pain resurfaced with a vengeance in his abdomen and he hunched over. “What did you do to me?” He managed out through clenched teeth. 

Barbara immediately took a step back, roughly dropping the armour-clad arm she’d been holding. “What did _I_ do to _you?_ Oh, you’ve got a lot of nerve-”

“Barbara, dear,” A smoother voice floated down from the stairs as the changeling disguised as a human calmly walked towards the others. “We can focus on killing him once he’s not fatally wounded. But for now, we’ve made a promise to the kids. It’s the least we can do for them, no?” He ended with his arms wrapped around her supportively. She relaxed in the embrace, still scowling at the man on the floor.

“Fine. For now. But I swear, the moment you-”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Merlin cut her off. “You hate me and can’t stand the sight of me. Let’s move to more important matters, shall we? Like why I’m here?”

Her fierce blue eyes still bore through the wizard, but she answered honestly. “You were apparently stabbed by a zombie King Arthur or something of the sorts. Claire brought you here so you could recuperate.”

Merlin furrowed his eyebrows, thinking back to the last thing he remembered. The feeling of a sword piercing his skin? Yes. Almost falling to his death? Certainly. Being absolutely sure he was going to die? Couldn’t forget it. But being brought here and _surviving?_ No. That...that didn’t seem right. 

“I-I don’t understand,” Merlin moved to push himself up again, grimacing through the pain this time as the changeling helped him sit back on the couch. “I shouldn’t-”

“Be here?” The man (what was his name, again? It didn't really matter) finished the sentence for him. “Well, it seemed that way to the rest of us. But your apprentice or someone used magic to stabilize you. Now, you’re under strict instructions to stay here and heal while the kids try and work through the mess you made centuries ago.”

Merlin’s blood turned cold in his veins. His eyes grew wide and he glared up at the others. “What did you say?” He shouldn’t be alive. Hisirdoux didn’t know the correct spells to heal a wound like that...did he? 

Barbara looked at him strangely “They said they’re trying to figure out a way to go after the evil magic people or something like that. Apparently Jim was already tracking them and they had to catch up with him as soon as possible.”

“No!” Merlin pushed himself to his feet, nearly toppling over. “They-they can’t! They’ll be killed!” The man caught him before he fell over completely. Jim was in the clutches of the Arcane Order, wasn’t he? Had the children flat out lied to his mother? “I need to get to them, immediately.”

“Apologies, sir, but you’re in absolutely no condition to go anywhere other than the couch.” The man nodded towards the furniture behind Merlin. “Besides, the kids said they were laying low in some tech shop or something. A safe place for the time being.”

“Then I must head there at once,” not one to back down, Merlin forced his posture as straight as he could. Seeing his staff placed off to the side, he carefully reached over and grabbed it, using it as a crutch. Barbara eyed him wearily. Merlin glared back. “You owe nothing to me. I permanently altered your son and stole him away. What does my health matter to you?”

The woman blinked back tears of hatred. “Barabara, we can’t-” The changeling attempted diplomacy. 

“No, he’s right. We owe him nothing. If he wants to get himself killed, that’s on him. We held up our end of the bargain and kept him safe while we could. From here on, his life is his responsibility.” She turned on her heel and headed towards the kitchen, not looking back. 

The man surveyed Merlin but eventually followed the steps of his love. “You do more harm than good, old man.”

Merlin limped towards the entryway of their house, pulling the door open painstakingly. “I never said I didn’t.”

The door shut definitively behind him. 

**************

The ‘tech shop’ or whatever they had called it had been obliterated, totally and completely. Icy shards stuck out from just about every surface. Fire still sucked the life out of anything that already hadn’t been burned to soot. Evidence of destruction laid strewn about the entire street, dents in the concrete ground and buildings crumbling from impacts. There were no signs of life. 

Merlin limped desperately through the streets. How could this have happened? How could those blasted children have messed up so incredibly badly? He tried to remember the last thing he’d told Hisirdoux. Hadn’t he said to run, protect Nari? _This_ didn’t look like protection, not at all. 

The old man shifted the wrong way, causing his armor to scrape against the bandages beneath it. He hissed in pain as another blinding pain shot through him. This was torture, absolute misery. But he had to find the children before they did something even more foolish. Each step was agony, but Merlin propelled himself down the street, looking for any sort of clue. 

Behind him, a storefront erupted with fire. Merlin whipped around to the sound just in time to see forces of ice and fire shoot out of it. Skrael and Bellroc. And in their hands...

Oh no. The Genesis seals. 

It all came rushing back to him. He’d told Hisirdoux where to find the seals: in the den of Charlemange. Merlin hoped with everything he had left that the dimwitted boy hadn’t gone after the seals to keep in his own possession. They would’ve been much safer in the hands of Archie’s father.

“No, no, no, no…” Merlin whispered as he limped towards the shop. After only a few steps, he stopped himself. If Hisirdoux was in there, it meant he’d been defeated and the Order now held the seals. Every second that ticked by marked more distance between Merlin and the one thing that protected the world from untamed magic. 

He had to go after the seals. 

*************

Merlin had finally found his way to a clearing in the nearby woods, the sounds of war screaming through the forest. The old wizard broke through the trees to find a crashed ship, debris of Camelot everywhere and two different battles being fought simultaneously. On one side, Claire fought to bring back Jim. On the other, a corrupted Arthur fought…

Morgana? He’d forgotten she was back. Again.

“Merlin!” Nari’s light voice broke through the clatter of magic as she ran towards him, grabbing his leg. 

“Nari! What-” Merlin looked out at the sight in front of him, still trying to fathom it all. 

“They fight against corruption, but I fear both souls have been lost.” She looked at the ground sadly. 

“Morgana?” He asked, scared of the answer. 

“She was resurrected but fights with us this time.” An explosion deafened them suddenly, a blinding golden light flooding the clearing. Merlin looked back up to see Excalibur once again trapped in the stone, the dark corruption cracking off of it. 

He barely overheard Morgana address her brother. “You want Camelot? Have what’s left of it.” She released the remnants of her power and with it, the last support system of the floating city.

“No!” Merlin wasn’t sure where he found the strength, but he ran towards her, summoning whatever magic he could to wrap around her waist. It took the form of a rope and closed tightly around her body. She looked back out of confusion, her face breaking with emotion when she saw her mentor. With one last effort, Merlin pulled her towards him, his magic doing most of the work. She crashed into him roughly. They both toppled over as the remains of Camelot smashed into the ground, crushing everything beneath it. 

Merlin and Morgana stood on the outskirts, barely out of harm’s way. Morgana peeled herself off the old man, falling back on the ground. Her hand wrapped around her side, keeping slick, red liquid in as best she could. “I-I thought you were dead.”

Merlin smirked at her. “That makes two of us.” Nari came around behind him, helping him to his knees. 

A cracking sound echoed through the silent clearing suddenly. Merlin whipped his head around and with horror watched the Trollhunter turn to stone. Beside him, Morgana gasped. Claire instantly ran to him, sobbing his name, begging for Jim to come back. For a moment, Merlin was convinced he’d witnessed the death of the child. But the stone began to crack again, revealing a very _human_ Jim Lake once again.

“Mordrax’s miracles,” Merlin muttered. “I didn’t think it was possible…” He pushed himself to his feet now, helping Morgana to her own. Together, they struggled to the others as they celebrated yet another gift of revival. It seemed the miracles were plentiful this day. 

As Merlin glanced over the faces of everyone he thought he’d left behind (as well as some strange blue creature) he remembered the one, very important face that was missing. 

“Archie!” Merlin cried out, once close enough. The dragon jumped and stared at Merlin as if he were watching a skeleton crawl from his grave. “Where is Hisir-”

An explosion from the sky answered the unfinished question. Merlin gaped as the Arcane Order’s vessel exploded with color. An icy red from one side and a brilliant blue from the other. A familiar blue.

They all kept their eyes on the sky, watching as a black spec became larger and larger, helplessly plummeting towards the earth below. 

“Is that…?”

“Hisirdoux!” Merlin screamed his apprentice’s name. Fear gripped his heart suddenly. A silent enemy that had always been there, just waiting for the perfect moment to strike. His body moved with strength it didn’t have in reaction to the life and death situation as he watched the boy crash through the canopy of trees. Merlin needed to move faster, cast an anti-gravity spell and catch him. His legs needed to pump faster. He needed to run faster. He needed to-

Hisirdoux hit the ground with a thump, blue light bursting out with finality.

“ _NO!”_ Merlin screeched, not worried about how vulnerable he appeared for the first time in his life. His surroundings blurred around him until he was kneeling over the boy, searching for any sign of life. Blood dripped down Hisirdoux’s head, pooling into a puddle beneath him. Faint traces of blue magic poured out of his body, leaving a gray pallor behind it. 

An awful flashback hit Merlin like a brick wall. He remembered Hisirdoux propping _him_ against a rock after falling from the exact same castle. Tears had pooled from the boy’s eyes, dropping to his mentor’s armour. _I can fix this, I can fix this, I can fix this_. 

By some miracle, the boy had been right. He _had_ fixed it. Just so he could take Merlin’s place in the afterlife. Had this been his plan? Some sort of exchange spell?

A sudden fury burned through Merlin’s veins. Stupid, foolish, insolent child thought Merlin was more necessary in this battle than he was? 

“I can fix this, I can fix this,” the familiar words fell from Merlin’s mouth as he laid his hands on the boy’s broken chest. Not wasting a single moment, Merlin forced his own magic into Hisirdoux, grasping desperately at straws. He _did_ know a revival spell, but it required elements, potions, time and an immense amount of power. All things he lacked currently.

But dammit all to Hell if he wasn’t going to try. 

A familiar black mass landed on the other side of him and gasped in horror at the sight of the scene. “Douxie...no…” Archie’s mournful cries were only distractions. 

Merlin needed absolute concentration if he had any hope of succeeding with his spell. But even after a few seconds, he felt his own power draining to a dangerously low level. Despite his hope and desperation and pure will power, Merlin knew his own magic wasn’t enough. 

“Archie, I need you to boost me!” Merlin gasped out, his own wound crying more and more for him to stop. 

The familiar was frantic, confused as to how he could possibly assist the older wizard. But it was his own wizard’s life that was on the line, and Merlin knew there was no way Archie would just let Hisirdoux die like this. The dragon padded over to Merlin and blew his breath on to the older man’s hands. Merlin felt their magicks combining and the light strengthened against Hisirdoux’s chest. 

They still needed more. 

Without having to be asked, Morgana stepped around them, leaking her whatever weak power she still had onto the ritual beneath her. Merlin closed his eyes, focusing the influx of magic to follow his commands. He heard more footsteps, felt more power surge into him. It must’ve been Claire. Merlin knew her magic had potential but it, too, was weak at this point in her life. Too novice.

It was overwhelming, feeling so much at a single time. So much sorcery, so much life force from all those around him. Except the boy beneath his hands. The only feeling radiating off him was an endless cold, void of everything that had once lit up his bright amber eyes. Merlin tried to remember Hisirdoux’s awful appreciation for music. He remembered the boy’s incessant fumbling and his knack for making mistakes. Merlin remembered the way he pined after any sort of compliment or affection without shame. He remembered how strong he’d become when they’d fought against Morgana nine centuries ago. Merlin remembered the burdens the boy carried and his obnoxious belief that every life was precious. 

Except his own, apparently. 

Merlin felt his eyes grow warm and all he saw now was green, his own power pulling to an apex. It was now or never. “ _Iterum vivere”_ Right as he spoke the words, he felt a tiny hand lay on the small of his back, pouring an unbelievable amount of energy _through_ him and _into_ Hisirdoux. Merlin felt the ground beneath him shift, changing from soft grass to hard stone. He looked up suddenly, opening his eyes and dropping the spell. 

He was no longer in the forest, but rather his old workshop. A soft light fell over the entirety of it, illuminating everything to a reassuring amber. Everything seemed frozen in time. As Merlin looked towards the windows, he noticed a figure standing there, his hand placed on the stained glass as if reaching out for whatever glowed beyond it. 

“Hello there, boy.” Hisirdoux whipped around at the voice, staring wildly at Merlin. 

“Master...you’re not dead!” A smile cracked its way across the young wizard’s face and he took a few tentative steps towards the man.

Merlin couldn’t help but allow his own face to break into a small grin at the pure relief of seeing the boy animated once again. He pulled himself to his feet and stood proudly in front of his apprentice. “Alas, you made sure of that.” As quickly as it appeared however, Merlin’s look of relief fell to the cold, harsh ground beneath him. 

“What’s...what’s wrong?” Hisirdoux’s voice wafted innocently through the air. He’d noticed the change of atmosphere immediately. 

A sudden rage at himself and the entire situation ran through Merlin’s blood. The world was cruel, demanding and unforgiving. How dare it take someone of such innocence without hesitation. Someone who’d silently protected civilians for so long. What kind of judgement was that?

Merlin snapped. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong! The Order has the seals, Camelot is destroyed, Nari is in peril and you-your-” the word refused to crawl out of his throat. 

“I knew what I was doing.” Hisirdoux looked away from the old man. “I knew the risks and accepted them.” He turned his head back, asking out of curiosity. “Everyone else? Are they okay?”

_Stupid, selfless-_ “Yes. Everyone’s alive and safe. Almost everyone.”

A door on the opposite side of the room opened suddenly, flooding the entire area with warm, golden light. Hisirdoux looked towards it peacefully, not questioning its message to him. Tears fell from his eyes, glistening in the light as they rolled down his cheeks. “Tell them I’ll miss them, then. That they gave me the strength I needed.” He took a few steps towards the doorway, accepting his fate. 

“And Master,” He paused for a moment, contemplating his _final_ , final words. “I told you when I met you that I owed you my life.” Another smile, the texture of a bird’s downy feathers, appeared on his face and almost immediately morphed into a smirk. 

That was simply unacceptable. 

“Damn you, Hisirdoux!” Merlin screamed at his apprentice, causing him to jump from the outburst. Merlin’s voice literally cracked the room, causing deep, black ravines to run up the stone walls. He stormed over to Hisirdoux and roughly grabbed his wrist. Instantly, the soft glow that enveloped the boy disappeared and he winced from the contact. He blinked a few times, wavering on his feet and looking around as if he’d just woken up. Then he fell to his knees, gasping in pain as his earthly injuries caught up with him. _Something must’ve been working if he suddenly felt the agony of living...right?_

Merlin hated the sight of it, but he simply sank to the ground with Hisirdoux. He tried to think of a way of putting his emotions into words, but more scolding flooded out of him before he could filter it. “Damn you and your foolish plan! You think I’m going to let you walk off peacefully after screwing up this badly? There’s still much for me to teach you.” His voice was a soft venom, stabbing his apprentice with love and affection. The blinding doorway suddenly slammed shut, coating the room in darkness again. “You’re coming back with me, whether you like it or not. And don’t you dare-”

“But, Master-!” Hisirdoux croaked out, pitifully. Tears pooled in his eyes. 

“‘But, Master’ me,” Merlin closed his eyes, not being able to watch his negative effect overtake the boy in front of him any longer. Instead, he focused all of his energy on his actual surroundings, back in the forest. He felt the grass again, Nari’s tiny hand on his back flooding him with her power of life. The entire time, Merlin gripped Hisirdoux’s hand as if it were his lifeline. 

When the sound of the mortal plane returned to his ears, Merlin released a breath and opened his eyes, immediately searching the body in front of him for any change. Hisirdoux’s chest moved up and down in a jagged breath. It didn’t sound healthy in any capacity. But it was a breath. At some point, Merlin must have physically reached out and taken his apprentice’s hand as he now crushed the frail appendage in his own. Weakly, he felt Hisirdoux’s fingers twitch, instinctively reacting and attempting to tighten around their physical lifeline. 

He was _alive_.

Merlin could have cried. 

He looked around, seeing the exhausted faces of the other sorcerers around him. They looked like they’d been awake for days on end, but all were smiling. Around them was a circle of black grass, as if its life source had been sucked out of it. The trees surrounding the clearing were weeping and weakened, the leaves crumbling to brown ash in the middle of the summer. 

Nari knelt next to Hisirdoux, placing a hand over his steady heartbeat. His eyes remained closed. The forest spirit looked up to Merlin. “He’s needed in this war. My plants accepted the sacrifice and bled their life into him. He’ll be okay.”

Archie head-butted his familiar, looking for a reaction. “Then why isn’t he waking up?”

Morgana spoke slowly, pulling her hand off her side and marveling at the lack of blood that came with it. “Magic is...draining. He’ll need time to rest. Nari,” she looked over towards Merlin. “Did you heal me?”

Nari smiled. “The life of Earth is cyclical. One day you will give your life back to it, so it’s only fair to pay it forward.”

“We owe you everything, Nari. Thank you.” Claire had walked back over to Jim, both of them leaning on each other.

“Thank _you_ for protecting me.” Her smile dropped. “But I’m afraid none of us are safe yet. The Order still searches.”

Merlin breathed deeply, feeling his chest and finding his own wound had disappeared, as well. He sighed again, accepting this moment of peace before reaching down and scooping his apprentice into his arms. Out of habit, Archie jumped on Merlin’s shoulders, draping his tail over his wizard’s hair. Hisirdoux’s head fell against Merlin’s shoulder and his breath scraped past the old man’s neck. Merlin found himself counting the breaths, ensuring they kept coming and never stopped, not even for a second. 

“Nari’s right. We must hurry and take advantage of the Order’s temporary defeat.” He moved his wrist slightly, calling the airship towards him and the others. Nari, understanding the plan without being told, grabbed Merlin’s staff from the ground and leaped into the ship soon as it came to a halt. Merlin looked towards Morgana, who remained still. “Care to join us?”

The woman looked at the absence of her left hand. “I believe my fight remains here,” she turned her gaze towards Claire. “If she’ll have me, I believe I’ve found my own apprentice.” She then shifted her eyes to Jim, who stood attached to his girlfriend. “As well as a new keeper for Excalibur.” Morgana looked forward to the blinding gleam of Excalibur wedged in its rock. 

Merlin nodded wordlessly. He used the wing of the ship as a ramp and walked towards the deck, careful not to jostle the boy in his arms too much. Once aboard, he set Hisirdoux down near the bridge of the ship. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but he was safe and alive. That was enough for now. 

Nari offered Merlin his staff. He took it subconsciously and wasted no time in jamming it into the control mechanism. Merlin called amusedly over the side, towards the others. “I’ll be seeing you champions of Arcadia soon enough.” He raised an eyebrow at all of them, a facial expression he doubted they could see, but trusted them to assume. “And whatever you do, _don’t_ die.”

Even as he said it though, Merlin knew the words were easier said than done. 


	2. Awakening

Fire. 

Everything felt like it was on fire, burning with absolute pain and agony. Holy Haicli, what had he done to cause himself this much misery? Douxie pried his eyes open despite his body’s loud protests against the movement. If moving his eyelids hurt this much, he was terrified to find out what actually sitting up felt like. 

Bright, white light instantly poured into his pupils and Douxie immediately shut his eyes again. Now he was regretting waking up in the first place. He really should just go back to sleep... Everything was peaceful there and quiet and not awful. 

A deep rumbling sound interrupted his thoughts, though. Douxie knew that sound. Being vulnerable to curiosity, the boy opened his eyes again, squinting when the light harassed him. This time, he kept them open long enough to get a visual of his surroundings. 

He was laying on a mattress placed in the corner of an otherwise empty room. A cheap (but soft) blanket was haphazardly thrown over his body, doing a poor job of covering him. His clothes were filthy, torn, a little singed and...was that blood? What exactly had he done? “Well, Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore…” the sarcastic words grated on his throat as if he hadn’t had anything to drink in days. Before he could focus on how immensely thirsty and famished he was, a weight pounced on his chest. 

“Douxie!” The familiar voice was welcoming and reassuring, but the sudden weight on his ribs was _not_. 

“ _Ohhh, everything hurts,”_ he managed out in an awful croak. Archie’s face took up his entire field of vision, his glasses hanging off his face at a precarious angle and his fur matted as if he’d just woken up. Guess that made two of them, then. 

Douxie stupidly (and painfully) pushed himself into a sitting position, letting his back fall against the plain wall behind him. The boy looked out the nearby window and saw nothing but skyscrapers, seagulls and a blindingly blue sky. “What-”

“You brave, foolish boy. You are _never_ allowed to do something like that again, do you understand me? Gave all of us quite the panic, I’ll say.”

“What-”

“I really thought that was the end. I know we’ve had close calls before, but this...this was _bad_ , Douxie.” Archie was pacing back and forth on his wizard’s legs. Douxie did his best to not cry out as each little toe bean ignited the nerves under his skin.

“Arch-”

“I really don’t know what I would’ve done.” The cat stopped now, looking his familiar dead in the eye. “And literally a day after I finally introduced you to family! How would I have explained that to my father, hmm??”

“Archie! _What_ is going on??”

The familiar stopped his rambling, suddenly remembering the situation. “Oh, apologies. It’s been a stressful few days.” He gently padded up the boy’s chest and fell against him, rubbing his head against Douxie’s chin and releasing more purrs. Douxie instinctively wrapped his arms around the cat in a natural hug. “To condense a long story: you died but Nari and Merlin brought you back. We escaped the Arcane Order for now and we’re hiding out in New York. I managed to shape shift into you for a little while and now you’re leasing this apartment. The signature was a little off though, I will admit.”

The words went in one ear and right out the other. Douxie remained silent for a moment, trying to comprehend so much bizarre information at once. “I’m sorry? I-what? You did _what?_ With what money??”

A deeper voice spoke from the doorway suddenly. “Turns out, some spare change I had in my pocket was quite valuable after being perfectly preserved for over 900 years. I don’t think coinage or whatever you use nowadays will be an issue for a while.” Merlin stood there, clad in his impeccable armor, smiling down at the boy. There wasn’t the faintest sign of the injury that had almost ended the legendary wizard.

“Master” Douxie breathed, awestruck. “You’re alive? I thought for sure-”

“Yes, well, that makes two of us, boy.” He gently walked into the room and knelt down next to Douxie. “How are you feeling? It’s not every day I get the pleasure of dragging someone back from the afterlife.”

Douxie tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. He did....what? That was like, a metaphor or something, right? “Uh...I’m alive. Which, from the sounds of it, is an improvement.” His stomach growled loudly suddenly. Archie jumped up and off the boy, surprised by the noise. Douxie smiled abashedly. “Also rather hungry and thirsty.” He thought for a moment more. “And still pretty confused.”

Merlin stood and offered a hand down to his apprentice. Douxie really, _really_ didn’t think standing up was going to be fun, but he knew he had to get moving eventually. He took the man’s hand and got to his feet, complaining the entire time. They slowly walked out into the short hallway and towards the kitchen. Douxie was amazed at the size of the apartment. It was rather small but for being in New York, surprisingly roomy. He did a quick talley and counted three tiny rooms and one bathroom.

The kitchen itself was bare, as was the living room. There didn’t seem to be a dining room of any kind, but a small bar was attached to the kitchen counter. Merlin led Douxie over to the counter and left him to lean on the fake granite. He’d been hoping for a couch or stool or something, but there was absolutely no furniture to be seen anywhere. It seemed they’d bought a mattress for him and stopped there. 

Merlin chuckled a little as he opened the refrigerator, shutting it closed quickly and then opening it again. Douxie thought he heard him mutter “such sorcery,” under his breath but he couldn’t be sure. Archie stood on his hind legs and walked over to the fridge. He rummaged around for a second before coming out with two cheese sticks in his mouth. Merlin pulled out a water bottle and closed the door. 

Archie easily jumped on the table and laid the food in front of Douxie. Merlin offered the water with an uncomfortable smile. Douxie looked at both of them. “That’s it? This is all we have?”

Seemingly dropping from the ceiling, Nari fell to the counter in a crouch. “Glad to see you’re feeling better!” She opened her hand and rolled a single strawberry towards the pile of provisions. It wasn’t exactly clear where she’d gotten the fruit. 

Douxie sighed. “Thanks, Nari.” He reached for the water first, savoring each drop that fell past his chapped lips. Before he knew it, the bottle was empty and his stomach felt like it was flooded. 

Archie pushed his glasses up on his face. “Yes, well, when we first arrived, we did our best to remain inconspicuous and gather rations. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the spirit of the forest, a cat wearing glasses and an ancient wizard in armor carrying the body of a goth teenager doesn’t exactly go unnoticed in these parts. I used a decent amount of my energy getting us an apartment and off the streets but crashed shortly after that. You’re honestly lucky we even had this.” He gestured to the strawberry and remaining cheese stick on the counter. Douxie was already half way through the first one, not even bothering to pull it apart. Rather, he just bit it down like a ruffian. 

He spoke with his mouth full, earning a look of displeasure from Merlin. “Does that make me like,” he swallowed his cheese and spoke more clearly, “the resident adult or something?”

Archie looked to Nari who nodded happily. He then turned to Merlin, who was scowling and looking off to the side. Finally, he looked back at Douxie. “Old friend, even after all these centuries I still hesitate to call you an adult. More like, you’re the most acceptable member for society out of this particular group of beings.”

Douxie deadpanned. “Thanks, Arch.”

Archie beamed. “Anytime. Of course, take your time to recuperate, but whenever you’re feeling up to it, we are in desperate need of a trip to the grocery store.”

“Uh...yeah, I’m gonna need a few minutes. Not quite in grocery-shopping condition at the moment.” Douxie stood up straight and rolled his shoulders back, testing his current limits. A brief dizzy spell plagued him, but he blinked through it and kept his composure. “Maybe in a few hours. In the meantime, why don’t you all tell me exactly how we got from point A to point B? I think I’m missing more than a few details. How are the others? Is everyone alright?”

Merlin filled him in on everything he’d missed and what their current situation was. He mentioned that Arcadia should be generally safe for the time being if no other threats surfaced. It was the four of them who protected Nari that had to remain under the radar. Merlin did his best to explain how Jim had miraculously been uncorrupted and reverted back to his human form. They speculated for a bit about how _that_ was possible but eventually just chalked it up to magic beyond their understanding.

Douxie was surprised to learn of Morgana’s switch back to the good side. Nari supplied them with a possible explanation as to how the Order was able to revive the sorceress again even without Nari’s life-giving abilities. Douxie smiled when he learned Claire was getting proper shadow magic training. He’d miss being her teacher, but she deserved someone who knew the craft better than himself. Douxie would make sure to extend the offer of lighter magic to Claire if she were ever interested in learning. 

“However, Excalibur remains master-less.” Archie spoke up. He’d reverted back to a dragon and was curled up beside Douxie. The group had transitioned from the kitchen to the empty living room at some point during the conversation. Douxie and Archie were on one side, leaning up against the wall. Merlin was resting against the opposite wall, Nari crouched beside him. 

“Mmmm, that’s no good. That’s far too much power to just leave in the forest of a very abnormal town.” Douxie cringed as he spoke. The whole thing sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. 

“Only those worthy will be able to use it,” Nari added helpfully. “As far as I am aware, no one on this earth fits that description. Not yet.”

Douxie furrowed his eyebrows at the statement. Was Nari able to sense each soul that specifically? Her power was, truly, beyond his comprehension. 

“No worries, the time will come for someone, most likely the Trollhunter. That boy has a pure heart if I’ve ever seen one. Speaking of,” Merlin looked to his apprentice. “We’ll have to get started on a new amulet as soon as possible. That weapon can turn the tide of this war. We are almost certainly lost without it. Especially since the Order now possesses the Genesis Seals.” He spoke as if even saying their name aloud could trigger an apocalypse. The old man narrowed his eyes towards a particular person sitting across from him. 

Douxie puffed his cheeks out. “Ohhh haha, I wonder how that could've happened?” He chuckled nervously under Merlin’s glare. At the time, Douxie thought for sure he’d escaped this lecture given Merlin’s near-death state Douxie’s self-sacrificial plan. But, in his defense, he _was_ able to save everyone else and free Nari. To him, it was worth giving up the Seals to do that. 

“ _Anyway_ ,” Douxie continued uneasily brushing past a conversation he knew would have to take place eventually. “We’ll just add a new amulet to our long list of responsibilities.” He smiled uneasily before turning to look out the glass sliding doors adjacent to him, avoiding Merlin’s cold stare. The city bustled below them as the sun drooped to a lower position in the sky. “But let’s focus on the basics for now, no? Like getting food or something.” Using the wall behind him as a brace, Douxie pushed himself to his feet. After a good while of sitting, he was surprisingly feeling better. Not to say he wouldn’t gladly fall asleep if given the chance, but there were more pressing matters. Besides, he was craving fresh air.

“I’m going to venture out and try to find a store or something,” he felt around his body, searching his pockets for both his phone and wallet. He turned towards the kitchen and found both belongings sitting off on the counter. The contents of his wallet had clearly been rummaged through, most of his cards and ID’s pulled out and scattered. His phone sat next to the wallet, seemingly untouched. “I’m not even going to ask,” he muttered as he limped over and put everything back in its proper place. 

Picking up his phone caused it to light up. A red bar in the top corner complained that it only had one percent of its battery remaining. The rest of the screen was taken up by an infinite number of notifications.

“Ah yes, the communication device. That block of junk is the bane of my existence. It simply won’t shut up.” Merlin walked over to Douxie, scowling at the phone. 

Douxie didn’t reply, already caught up in scrolling through the social media notifications, local news alerts of the world ending (again) and a _lot_ of text messages from… “Oh, fuzzbuckets.” Douxie had seen plenty of jokes about the feeling of terror that only descended on one after missing countless calls from his mother. Although he’d never experienced that exact situation, Douxie was sure that missing this many calls and texts from Zoe created an identical panic.

The most recent message simply read ‘53’ and the one before it read ‘52’. He dragged his finger across the screen in his familiar lock pattern and opened the messages application. Zoe was simply sending him a number in each message, slowly counting up. At the top of the cluster of texts was a distinct threat: _Every unanswered text or phone call is just another stab wound in your stupid chest once I inevitably track you down and find you._

Ohh yeah, she was not happy. Smirking, Douxie typed out a reply and sent it to her: _Et tu Brute?_ Instantly, his phone began vibrating. He answered it, bracing for the worst. 

A familiar voice screeched his name from the speakers, causing Douxie to pull the phone away from him to protect his hearing. “You think you can just leave a voicemail like that and then go AWOL for _four days_? I’m not kidding this time, I’m literally going to kill you for destroying my work place and then disappearing like everything’s fine. I specifically told you not to break anything and then you-”

Douxie frantically fumbled with his phone to decrease the volume. He’d forgotten about the voicemail he’d left her right before he went on his suicide mission. No wonder she was so upset. Merlin raised an eyebrow to him at which Douxie smiled impishly. He pulled his attention back to the phone. “Aha, yes hello Zoe, how are you doing?” He poured his best ‘I did nothing wrong’ tone into his voice, hoping against all odds. 

“How am I _doing_??? You have some audacity, Doux. Where are you? I’ve been looking for you everywhere but the majority of the city is trashed. _Are you okay?!?_ ”

“Uh, haha, well...yes. I’m in New York with Arch, Merlin and Nari, the rogue member of the Arcane Order.”

He had to pull the phone away from his ear again as the girl screeched _“New York???”_ His phone chimed unhappily and the phone lit up, emphasizing its lack of battery again. He could still hear Zoe clearly despite having the speaker near him. “This is Merlin’s fault, isn’t it? Dammit it all! I _knew_ him showing up again was bad luck-”

“Listen, Zo, my phone’s about to die. Can I call you back in a little bit-?”

“Don’t you _dare_ end this phone call, Hisirdoux. I’ve been worried sick-”

His screen turned black. 

Archie winced and laughed at his wizard. “Ohh, I do not envy you.” Douxie simply shrugged and slipped his phone into the pocket of his tattered jeans. There would be hell to pay, but he’d have to find the currency deal with that later. 

“Who was that?” Nari asked curiously. 

Douxie opened his mouth, but Archie cut him off. “Oh, just Douxie’s ‘on-again/off-again’ _friend_ for the past few centuries. This should be fun to watch.” The young wizard and familiar eyed each other, one glaring and one smiling mischievously.

“ _Ok!_ ” Douxie forced the word out deliberately, making a silent threat to Archie. “I’d better get going. Anyone want to come with or are you all hanging me out to dry?”

All three of them looked at each other and themselves. No one offered their company. 

“I think we’d stand out too much. It’s safer if we just stay here for the time being.” Merlin looked down at what he was wearing.

Douxie raised an eyebrow. “I know a spell to change your clothes, easy. I’d say I’m in need of a change, too.” He pulled his left wrist up, activating the runes for him to choose from. 

“No!” All three of them shouted, causing Douxie to jump back. He froze in place, looking at the others wildly. 

“What-”

“Are you really that daft!?” Merlin took a step towards him and slapped his arm back down to his side. “You over extended your magic mere days ago to the point of it almost killing you. You may physically be fine, but your connection to magic is still healing. Using even a simple spell prematurely could backfire terribly, either injuring you or destroying your magic entirely.”

Douxie stared at him incredulously. In his 900+ years of studying magic and sorcery, he’d never even heard of such a thing. “What? That doesn’t make any sense. I’ve seen plenty of people use crazy amounts of magic and be fine-”

Archie cut him off gently. “That’s because those people were used to consistently using a higher level of sorcery. You, however, seemed to go from generally minimal magic to some of the most powerful I’ve witnessed in the matter of a day.” Douxie continued staring as his familiar’s words shot straight over his head. Wasn’t that just called growth? How could that possibly _destroy_ his _magic??_

Sensing the confusion, Archie flapped up to sit on the counter and tried to explain it again. “Think of it like running. Most people stretch before a race, run their best and might be a little sore afterwards for a bit. _You_ , however, entirely skipped the stretching phase, sprinted for a kilometer, tore your ACL, won the race but tripped at the end and broke practically every part of yourself.” Archie looked at him expectantly.

Douxie was barely following. This was too much for being so incredibly tired. “...ok?”

Archie sighed. “So...Nari managed to heal most of the damage to your body. But that torn ACL? Your magic? That will take some time. You’ll need physical therapy to strengthen it again to what it once was. Imagine trying to run on a torn ACL a few days after the initial injury.”

Douxie’s messy black hair ruffled slightly as he nodded dejectedly. “It would cause such more harm than good.” But how long was he going to be magic-less? With the Arcane Order searching for them, they couldn’t afford to be down a wizard. 

“More harm than good,” Merlin scoffed. “Hisirdoux, I’ll need to work with you again to improve your magic. But today is not a good day for that. Not yet.” Douxie scanned the faces of everyone around him. Merlin was clearly perturbed, Archie appeared...understanding? And Nari just looked over him with concern. 

An uneasy feeling of embarrassment fell over him, as if he’d just been slapped in the face. For the nth time in his life, Douxie inwardly chastised himself for being so ignorant. “Oh,” he managed out in a small voice. “My bad, then. I uh...I guess I’ll just head off to the store and you guys stay here.” He smiled fakely at them and turned towards the door. Something about being reprimanded had never felt good. He’d had plenty of practice getting used to it and yet the simplest comments (even if they were meant for his benefit) still managed to cut deeply. After all these years, it still felt like he had a poor understanding of magic. 

Someone sighed loudly behind him. Douxie heard a small _woosh_ and turned around to find Merlin dressed in a simple long sleeve black shirt and a pair of jeans with a black cap on his head. An identical hat appeared from thin air and he offered it to his apprentice. The young mage raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to react. Merlin stared at him, expectantly. “Well? Let’s get going. Archie can look after Nari while we’re out. Maybe you can finally teach me how to manage in this dysfunctional world.”

It took a physical shove from Merlin to make Douxie take the necessary steps out the door. The cap was forcefully placed on his head and Merlin walked ahead of him, undoing what appeared to be multiple locks over the doorway. It took a few extra moments for Douxie to register that Merlin had stepped into the hallway and was waiting for him again. It was just inexplicably strange to see the old man dressed in anything other than 12th century armour (and to be completely honest, Douxie wasn’t sure he was pulling off the subtle punk look).

**************

“Hisirdoux, where have you taken us? I thought this was supposed to be a quick journey!” Merlin scowled deeply, moving his head back and forth constantly on a pivot. Douxie squinted to see the street sign up ahead of them in an attempt to get his bearings, but it was useless. The streets may have been numbered, but they were lost. 

“Sorry if I haven’t been to New York in a few hundred years. It looks a lot different, now.” He scanned his eyes over the street vendor’s carts, hoping to find one with a map or something. The issue was, he didn’t remember where they’d come from. Sure, he may have technically rented the apartment, but that didn’t mean he knew where it was located. Not yet, at least. He looked around again, trying to avoid bumping into too many disgruntled locals while he studied the surroundings. 

A flashing sign up ahead offered some solace. 

“Aha! A store! Once we get some supplies, we’ll be able to find our way back, I’m sure of it.”

“Oh, I have _complete_ faith in you,” Merlin’s sarcastic voice made it obvious he didn’t trust his mentee’s internal compass whatsoever. Which was valid considering Douxie wasn’t even sure he trusted it himself. 

The two of them entered the store, earning strange looks from a few of the cashiers before they went back to ignoring customers. Douxie looked down at himself, still covered in dirt and blood, his clothes torn from either the battle or his supposed fall. Probably a combination of both. He’d have to grab some new garments for both him and Nari if they passed a store with clothes at some point. Douxie pondered getting Merlin some new clothes too and glanced over at the older man, but was immediately distracted by his expression. 

“What is this place?” Merlin stared in awe at the fluorescent lights and overflowing aisles of food. 

“It’s a, uh, a grocery store. Pretty common nowadays.” 

The older wizard took a few tentative steps forwards. “I knew people no longer hunted or grew their own food but...I never imagined something like _this_.”

Douxie smiled. He’d had the pleasure of being eased into things, experiencing them first hand as they’d emerged over the years. Merlin, however...he was suddenly thrust into a new culture with almost no warning. Of course he’d find wonderment in the small things. “Yup, it’s all about convenience these days.” Still smiling slyly, Douxie reached over and grabbed a small plastic basket, then began leading Merlin through the isles. “Okay, what do we need?”

The wizard looked down at him. “Why are you asking me? You’re the one who knows these modern inventions and their uses.”

“Modern inventions? We’re shopping for food, not-” Douxie stopped in the middle of his sentence. Did food nowadays count as a modern invention? It was a good question, actually. It looked so different now than it had in Camelot. Another small detail Douxie had learned to take for granted. 

Instead of finishing his sentence, the young wizard led Merlin over to the vegetable area. “We’ll just get enough to get us through a couple meals and then we can come out again and do some proper shopping to get the rest of what we need in a few days.” He mainly spoke to himself as a way of working through his thoughts but Merlin _hmphed_ in agreement.

Douxie peered over the produce, pondering it all. “What does Nari eat, anyway?”

Merlin thought for a second before shrugging. “She’s an immortal being. I am unsure if she even requires food at all.”

“Uh, yeah. Good point.” Douxie grabbed a large tub of strawberries and a head of lettuce anyway. The shopping trip continued rather uneventfully, Douxie making practically all of the decisions on what to buy. He hoped Merlin enjoyed frozen dinners and soup because he certainly wasn’t keen on making any homemade meals in the near future. Even after being awake for just a few hours, Douxie was feeling exhaustion creep back into his bones. He knew he was going to crash as soon as they got back tonight. Everyone else was just going to have to deal with it.

When traveling down the canned food aisle, Douxie shoveled a good amount of salmon, tuna and sardines into the overflowing basket. 

“What are those?” Merlin inquired. 

“Fish. For Archie.” Douxie answered plainly, keeping his eyes on the shelves. 

“Fish? Concealed in _metal?_ I can’t imagine that being overly appetizing.” 

Douxie chuckled, prying his eyes from the sardines to look at Merlin. “Oh, believe me, it’s not. But you’d be surprised what people eat nowadays.”

Merlin leaned forward, squinting to read a particularly strange label. “A whole chicken in a can? I find it difficult to believe an entire bird is stored in such a small container.” He picked it up and shook it, eliciting a disgusting sloshing sound. Douxie gagged, to which Merlin threw the can in the basket. The boy stared at the old man as if he were insane. “Curiosity fuels genius.”

“Oh no, I’m not spending money on that. There’s no way its contents are edible.”

Merlin smirked at his apprentice. “Didn’t you just say ‘you’d be surprised what people eat these days’?” And then he walked off down the aisle, leaving a confused Douxie behind. Was...was that a _threat_? Douxie discreetly placed the canned chicken back on the shelf before following. 

After grabbing a few more items (including a phone charger and a map), they eventually managed to make it to the check out. Douxie headed towards the self-service section out of habit. Merlin stood behind him with straight posture, examining his actions closely. At one point he leaned forward, whispering in Douxie’s ear. “Is this sorcery or technology?”

Douxie snorted. “Technology.” 

“Hmm,” Merlin leaned back on his heels and continued observing quietly. 

Douxie pulled back from tapping the payment options and viewed the man. “Would you like to try?” Merlin eyed him cautiously before stepping forward and reaching his hand out. He looked to the boy for instructions. “We’ve scanned everything, so hit the ‘ready to pay’ option.”

Merlin surveyed the buttons and promptly punched the large green icon on the screen with his full fist. The machine beeped angrily at him as the touchscreen adjusted back to its normal color after the sudden force. Merlin glared at Douxie. “Did it work?”

Maybe ‘hit’ was too literal a word. It took all of Douxie’s self control to keep a straight face. He definitely noticed some little girls behind him giggling. Hopefully he’d just be able to pass Merlin off as an elderly man who struggled with technology. “Well, you punched the screen. It doesn’t take well to physical attacks. Just gently press the button. Like this,” he extended his own forefinger and pushed the virtual button. It gave the appearance of sinking under his touch and the entire screen shifted to payment options.

Merlin stared in wonder. Douxie continued. “I’m paying with debit, so _push_ the one that says ‘card’” The man did as he was told and smiled confidently as the monitor happily changed to its waiting screen. 

He looked over at his apprentice. “Now what? There aren’t any more of those buttons.”

Douxie stepped towards the payment terminal and pulled out his wallet. “Now it’s just waiting for me to pay. Then we can leave.” He pulled out his card and inserted it into the machine. It beeped quietly as it read the data.

“Where’s your money?”

Merlin had drawn awfully close to Douxie, trying to look over his shoulder at the card reader. “Uh...it's technically in my bank, but this machine reads my card and will draw the appropriate money from my account to pay for all of this.”

“Come again?” was the immediate response. 

Douxie sighed slightly. “Yeah, it’s complicated. It’s kind of weird to explain and I’ll have to introduce you to some other concepts before we get to digital payment. 900 years is a long time,” the machine beeped, telling him to remove his card. He pulled it out and shoved it back in his wallet. “A lot had changed.”

He felt his master’s eyes boring into his neck as Douxie gathered up the majority of the paper bags. As he shuffled them in his arms, he could’ve sworn he heard Merlin murmur, “A lot _has_ changed.” Before he could fully decipher the words, Merlin stepped forward and grabbed the remaining bag. 

Once back out on the streets, Douxie managed to pull out the map he’d bought. He scanned his eyes closely before recognizing the name of a street that appeared to be just a few blocks away from where they were now. He was sure that the apartment was somewhere nearby. All they had to do was get close. Then he’d be able to recognize the area and eventually get home. He folded the map up and tucked it back into one of the bags. “This way, Master.” He turned right at the stop light and walked across with the rest of the pedestrians. 

“You’ve been here before?” Merlin asked, looking around at the screens, flashing lights and many, many people. 

“Technically yes, but it was a while ago. It’s a lot different now. Unrecognizable, actually. Now they have skyscrapers and a whole chorus of other things. When I was here in the…” he thought for a moment, trying to remember the year. “1600’s(?) it consisted of much smaller buildings and dirt roads. It really took off during the Industrial Revolution, early 1900’s.”

Merlin hummed for a moment, thinking. Douxie heard him open his mouth, about to say something, but he stopped himself. There was a moment of silence before he committed to his statement and voiced it. “Hisirdoux, I must ask you something.”

Douxie turned to look at the man. He raised an eyebrow “Ok?”

“What healing spell did you use after Arthur impaled me with Excalibur? I should have died that night.”

Douxie smiled proudly. “Yeah, well, probably. But I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve.” He tried to hold up his wrist to emphasize the literal pun. Merlin glared back in response. Douxie cleared his throat and continued. “It was an advanced curing spell someone taught me a while ago. And, actually that was the first time I’ve ever used it on my own. I was pretty surprised it worked. Thankfully it did though, otherwise neither of us would be here.” A casual laugh poured from his throat. He’d learned long ago that near-death experiences were something he needed to laugh off in order to maintain his sanity. 

“What were the runes you used, exactly? And who taught you? Excalibur is an enchanted sword and it was combined with corrupted, ancient magic when it cut into me. That is not something you simply heal with a strong spell.”

Douxie laughed again, trying to sound normal. The story behind the particular spell he’d used wasn’t a great one. It was actually something he didn’t want to remember, much less explain to Merlin. “Well, I was pretty distraught at the time. I guess I focused my emotion into my magic. It must’ve strengthened it or something.” He was definitely speaking too quickly to not give a major hint that he was hiding something. 

“Hisirdoux,” the tone used to speak his name caused Douxie to stop in the middle of the sidewalk, expecting a lecture or reprimand. People bumped past him angrily but he remained frozen in place. Merlin placed a hand on his shoulder and glared at him critically before forcing his expression to soften. “I just need to thank you for saving my life.” He offered a smile.

Douxie sighed in relief, happy Merlin wasn’t pushing any further. He winked lightheartedly. “Right back at ya.”

***************

Once they’d made it back to the apartment (after only a few wrong turns), everyone worked together to put the food away. One of the boxes of granola bars was left on the counter in place of dinner for whoever wanted them. Archie had immediately pointed out that his wizard hadn’t bought any pots, pans, silverware or dishes. Douxie sighed, annoyed with himself for forgetting something so vital. They’d have to go back out tomorrow. 

But he was done for tonight. Walking through an unknown city had taken whatever mental and physical strength he’d had left. Douxie snagged two granola bars and another bottle of water and sat himself down where he’d been earlier. He silently peered out the window again, noticing how the light pollution almost blocked out the stars entirely. 

That was one thing he’d missed more over the years: the cleaner air, water and land. Humans were taking a toll on the earth and it showed. He missed being able to clearly see the Milky Way (even if he hadn’t known what it was at the time). Now, he had the privilege of seeing the tops of skyscrapers blinking to ward off nearby planes. What a treat. 

Then again, there was something soothing about the bustle of the city. Noise was constant and reliable. Before he knew it, Douxie found his eyes drooping shut, the hum of the city easily lulling him to sleep. 

“Ohhh no you don’t. You’re not going to make any of us carry you to bed like the princess you like to think you are.” Archie’s familiar voice shook Douxie out of his stupor. He blinked dramatically, expanding his eyes open widely. 

“Yeah, I think I’ll turn in for the night then. It’s been a busy day.”

Nari giggled. “You slept through half of it.”

“Exactly. _Only_ half, which is why he’s so exhausted.” Merlin chuckled, a scornful eye falling on his apprentice. 

“Hilarious,” Douxie got to his feet and walked over to the bags on the counter, reaching into one and pulling out the phone charger, soap and the cheap, tourist clothes he’d managed to find in the store. “By the way, are the rooms decided? I’m assuming mine is that one,” he gestured to the one he’d woken up in. Everyone nodded. “Well, if someone else wants the mattress, they’re welcome to it. I can sleep on the floor.”

Merlin scoffed. “And give up my bed? No thank you, I’m perfectly happy.” 

Nari smiled too. “Yes, the double sleeping structure I’ve been given is much better than the one you have.” 

Archie flapped up to eye level with his familiar. “That _was_ one of the things we did. We weren’t sure which type of bed frame you’d prefer which is why we left you on the mattress.”

Douxie stared at everyone. Here he’d thought they’d all made a sacrifice to offer him the one mattress in the apartment. A puff of air escaped his vocal cords in place of a laugh. He should’ve known. Douxie shook his head and headed off down the hallway, throwing his hand up one last time as a wave goodbye. He snuck into the small bathroom and into the shower to clean the filth off of himself. The water pressure was higher than he was used to in California and he relaxed almost immediately. He could’ve easily stayed there for hours, but exhaustion continued to weigh him down and he could only deny sleep for so long. 

Once Douxie was clean, changed, and back in his room, he pulled the door shut most of the way (but not completely to make sure Archie could get in). He then plugged his phone into the charger and laid down, waiting for it to turn back on. When it did, the device chimed with more notifications. Most noticeably, from one girl in particular. He tapped her contact and listened to the dial tone as it called her. 

Zoe answered half way through the first ring. She spoke more calmly this time, asking what had happened, where’d he’d gone and when he was coming back. 

Douxie rolled on his back and sighed. “I don’t know when or if I’ll be returning to Arcadia. This is kind of like a permanent job assignment.” 

Her tired voice rolled out of his speakers. “Is this that mission you’ve been waiting your entire life for?” 

He sighed. “Yeah, something like that.” He didn’t know when he was going to see Zoe again, and that broke his heart a little. They may have lived separate existences, but they’d been travel buddies for a few centuries now. When one decided to relocate, the other followed. It was unspoken, just expected at this point. But this time felt different for some reason, and that scared him. 

Zoe sighed back. “Well, my place of employment was crushed and it’s gonna take a while to rebuild. I’m going to need a new job in the meantime.”

Douxie chuckled. “Yeah, sorry about that. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t actually there when it happened, which means it’s someone else’s fault. But something tells me the cafe will be looking to fill a position in the near future.” Douxie made a mental note to call his previous employer and quit tomorrow (if he hadn’t already been fired). 

“Nah, not only is that boring, but the cafe is botched too. You really did a number on this town, Douxie. For my next job, I’d want something exciting.”

The boy snorted quietly. “Ok then, Lady-Thrill-seeker. What are your options?”

“Ohhh,” her voice innocently chimed from the other side of the phone. “I’ve heard New York is the city of new possibilities. Why don’t I start looking there?”

Douxie smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know most of this chapter doesn't logistically make sense, but that's why they call it fiction, right? (Laughs nervously). Also, I like the idea of Merlin defaulting to Douxie's sense of style because he assumes that's what's 'typical' in the modern day. Anyway, thanks for reading!! Feedback is always appreciated :)


	3. The Right Intuition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get a little insight on Zoe and her magic in this chapter! It wasn't supposed to be this long (almost 10k words) but turns out I really love writing her. Also, warning, there's a slight bit of cursing in this (nothing too extreme) because you cannot convince me that Zoe has a perfectly clean vocabulary. 
> 
> (Also, near the start of this chapter, there's a flash back and then it suddenly shifts back to present time. I hope it's not too confusing)

It took about a month for them to get all of their affairs in order. Zoe was honestly impressed with herself. Not only had she found a job in the New York branch of HexTech, but she was being hired in at a higher position. Which meant a raise. A raise, mixed with her savings and a financial assistance program through work meant she was able to find a cheap studio apartment she could afford on her own. The best part was that it was only a short walk away from Douxie and the gang. 

Zoe pulled an old black zip-up over her deep green tank top, checking to make sure it matched the rest of her outfit that consisted of her favorite black skinny jeans and combat boots. Satisfied with the general look, she placed her headphones in her ears, locked her door behind her, and set her mind to autopilot. She felt herself zoning out, her mind falling into an ocean of endless thought.  _ It was a short walk, _ she reasoned with herself. She could afford to get lost for a little while.

Unfortunately, her mind instantly traveled back about a month to the dreadful night when everything had seemed to go wrong. Her phone had blared the Ghostbusters’ theme at about midnight, waking her from a dead sleep. It was her ringtone specifically for Douxie, she should’ve realized that. But instead, she’d silenced the device to turn off what her sleep-meddled mind had assumed was an alarm. 

The next morning, her Intuition had woken her brashly. It felt as if someone had poured cold water over her, dousing her with panic, desperation and absolute loss. She sat up, her lungs screaming for breath as she hyperventilated. Her Intuition was a constant power that surged through her, but it almost never got this bad. Not unless someone… 

Her instinct was to go to her phone and check the news updates. Arcadia must’ve been under attack again. That was the only explanation. Surprisingly though, most of her notifications were from her coworkers, texting their group. The opening shift was complaining because…

HexTech had been destroyed.

Zoe growled deep in her throat. She’d specifically told him to not- and he does  _ this?? _ He goes and breaks everything??? Right when Zoe had been up for a promotion, too. Unforgivable. 

“Stupid, reckless…” she muttered under her breath, immediately pulling up Douxie’s contact to call and berate him endlessly. She growled again when he didn’t answer and left a seething voicemail. It was only after she’d practically screamed her speaker off that she noticed a message from the very person from whom she wanted to hear.

Zoe snorted silently. “Ok, Hisirdoux...let’s see what you have to say for yourself…” She tapped the message and placed it on speaker, shaking her head already in anticipation of his poor excuses. 

_ Okay, well I know you’re going to be pissed off, but I promise the damage to your workplace wasn’t my fault _ . Douxie’s voice poured from her phone along with the loud sound of wind. He panted slightly between each word, leading her to believe he had been running. Strange. 

_ Long story short, the Arcane Order is after us and I may or may not have just purposely given them the Genesis Seals which, cool story, I found out that Charlemagne the Devourer is Archie’s  _ father _! Can you believe it? Pretty wild, honestly. Uh… _

Zoe stared at her phone in horror. She knew about the Arcane Order but...the Genesis Seals?? Douxie had found them!? And he’d  _ given them away??? _ What was he-

_ Yeah, so...I’m just gonna come out and say it: I kinda sent myself on what is probably going to be a suicide mission. I really don’t see how I’m gonna make it out of this one haha...you know me, always doing reckless things… _

More cold water flooded Zoe’s senses. She dropped her phone to her bed, where the message continued speaking, slightly muffled by her comforter. The girl began to shake as a freezing numbness settled over her body. 

_ And I don’t think I’ve got a lot of time left, but, Zoe, I just needed to apologize in advance. I know we said we’d never abandon each other and here I am, leaving you behind. But it needs to be done, I have to try and stop the Order before they harm anyone else. I’m going to need you to be there for Archie. I’m not sure how he’s going to take it.  _

Zoe gripped her hair, shaking her head. “No, no, no, no, no….”

_ And Zoe, I know it’s been a while since I’ve said it, but I do love you. I know you know that. Always. So, uh...yeah. Okay. _

The message ended. 

Silence surrounded her for a second. Zoe stared at her phone, begging it to continue playing his voice. She wanted more, more sound, more of his uncomfortable laughter, more ‘I love you’s’. But there was nothing. Not even a pin dropped. 

To say she’d lost it a little after that would’ve been an understatement. 

She’d gone searching for him for days, trying to find any of those kids she’d seen with him or Merlin or anyone. At one point, she’d stumbled across ruins of a city in the forest. The grass was scorched with magic and scarred from battle. The more she looked around, the colder she felt. This had to have been the spot. Zoe noticed a sword in the stone, unguarded and forgotten. She’d left it without a second thought. 

It was a few yards away, in a tiny clearing, that she began to feel like she was drowning. Her powers of insight were usually proactive, but it had suddenly felt like the past was coming to haunt her. Cold water flooded her lungs, forcing her to her knees as she gasped for breath. 

This. This is where it had happened. She felt the death and the sorrow all around her The circle of black grass and rotting trees painted a clear enough picture even without her Intuition. Zoe had pulled her phone out and called Douxie again. No response. 

A taxi beeped loudly as Zoe found herself walking straight into oncoming traffic. A stranger grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back onto the sidewalk and out of her thoughts. They yelled something at her that went unheard, due to the music blasting in her ears. Zoe offered them a sarcastic smile and continued on her way. She’d have to do her best to not zone out quite that hard again while commuting. Back in Arcadia, she would’ve been fine. Here in New York? Yeah...wasn’t quite the same. 

Soon enough, she found herself at the correct apartment building. Instead of being buzzed in, she simply called Douxie and forced him to come down and get her. He arrived at the door a few moments later, wearing an irritated expression. He was clothed in his typical style, black shirt, black pants, black hoodie and black high tops. At least Zoe added some splash of color in her own apparel.

“Why do you  _ insist  _ on making me walk all the way down here every time? It would be easier and faster for both of us if I just let you in normally.” Douxie instantly began complaining as he held the entrance door open for her.

Zoe tapped his shoulder and sighed. “Oh, but Hisirdoux, that just isn’t as much fun! Besides, I like testing you and seeing how much bullshit you’ll put up with.

“Hey-” He began to say something, but she cut him off. 

“You’re a bit of a pushover, but it’s alright. I’m just experimenting to see if I can find your limit.” Zoe smiled grandly and led the way up to the elevators. Douxie grumbled behind her. 

“Remind me again why I was happy you moved here?”

“Because you  _ love me, _ remember?” She scoffed, laughing loudly. “Ugh, you’re such a sap, too. Like, come on Douxie, a ‘heroic’ sacrifice and a last-minute  _ I love you _ message? Can you get anymore cliche?” The silver doors slid open and she happily slipped inside, holding her arm in the doorway to hold it for her friend. 

“Love you? Oh, no, no. You must’ve misheard me.” Douxie followed her and held his finger to his chin, thinking wistfully. “I do believe I said ‘I  _ hate _ you’.” He nodded to himself. “Yeah, that sounds much more probable.”

“Nuh-uh, nice try. But I’ve got the message saved and you better believe I’m using it for blackmail in the future.” Zoe smiled. She forced herself to push the pain and fear that still accompanied the message deep down into her tightly guarded Pandora’s box of things she never wanted to think about again. She tried to remind herself that it was okay to joke about Douxie’s almost-death now (even if it had only been a month) because he was alive and well. But that didn’t mean she still didn’t shiver when she thought about it. 

They chuckled comfortably together as the elevator lurched upwards, taking them to the fifth floor. An easy conversation flowed between them as they approached the apartment. Douxie undid the deadbolt and door handle locks, and then he moved to the side. Zoe stepped forward and undid the multiple magic seals placed over the apartment until the door finally swung open. As soon as they stepped inside, Zoe was met with the sight of Merlin fastening his armor together. Archie laid lazily in a patch of sunlight on the floor. His wings were extended out fully, absorbing the warmth flooding the room. 

Douxie stopped in the doorway but hesitated to go further. “Uh...Master?” They’d gotten used to his casual, ‘senior’ attire he’d adopted a few weeks ago. Seeing the 12th century garments again was a bit startling.

The man looked up, already perturbed about something. “Yes?”

“What’s with the armor?” Zoe spoke up rudely, making no attempt to feign manners. Even after multiple meetings, it was agreed upon that the two would just simply not get along. “And Archie-” she called to the dragon dozing in the living room. “Come on, we’ve got plans, remember?” It was the first day since the move that both Zoe and Douxie had off work. After failing to show up for their last date, Zoe convinced her favorite duo they owed her a good ole’ monster hunt. It hadn’t taken much convincing, as all three agreed it would be a nice attempt to experience some sense of normalcy. 

Merlin glared at the girl. “Ah, yes. Archie informed me of your plans. And I’ve changed them.”

Zoe lowered her gaze, her voice dropping to a threatening tone. “ _ What? _

Merlin smirked, clearly proud of himself. Archie pushed himself into a sitting position, transformed into a cat and trotted over to the others. “It would seem I’ve been placed on guard duty today.” He looked off to the side, a slight disappointment crossing his face. 

Douxie stepped into the apartment fully and closed the door behind him. “But, I thought-”

“You thought the three of you could go after this beast that’s been running amok beneath us? A magic-less wizard,” Merlin raised his eyebrow at Douxie.

“ _ Temporarily- _ ” The black haired boy attempted to defend himself, but Merlin continued. 

“And a girl with minimal electric magic who sometimes  _ feels _ things?” He chuckled a gross, frustrating sound as he poked fun at Zoe’s abilities. “Out of the three of you, Archie has the best chance at holding his own in a fight. No offense.” Merlin looked down at the cat. 

“Offense taken,” Archie supplied calmly.

“No, no. Instead, I will be going to fix this little issue. You three stay home and keep watch over Nari.” He gestured to the small sorcerer, who tended to her plants on their tiny balcony.

“I tried to argue with him,” Archie spoke quietly as he licked his paw and brushed it over his head. 

Zoe saw red for a moment. “Listen here, you ungrateful-” Rage clogged her throat thickly, to the point where no other words were able to tumble out. To say she wasn’t a fan of Merlin would be like saying the universe was only kind of old. After centuries of helping Douxie slowly work through his mental obstacles, she found this old hag to be the root of a decent amount of them. Now he was back and refreshed, going after his apprentice  _ and _ his friends this time. 

Douxie gently touched her arm, trying to ease her down. “Master, I really think it would be better if you let us take care of this one. We need a little stress relief after this past month. Besides, we’ve worked together to capture larger monstrosities. We’re a well oiled machine at this point.” 

“Doubtful,” Merlin grumbled.

A glass door slid open and everyone looked over to see Nari stepping into the room. She waved happily to Zoe. “Hello! What brings you here, today?”

Zoe plastered a smile on her face. It was genuine, as she had easily taken a liking to Nari over the past weeks. But she grit her teeth and sassily glared at Merlin as she spoke. “Oh! We’re just going on a quick adventure! Like old times. Merlin is going to stay here with you and you guys are going to-uh, I don’t know, play lots of games or something.” She grabbed Douxie’s arm and started opening the door behind her, trying to leave before someone could physically stop her. 

“Oh! I would like to come!” Nari clapped happily, walking over to the congregation in the entryway. 

“Absolutely not-” four voices spoke in unison as Merlin, Archie, Douxie and Zoe all shot down the idea instantly. 

Nari deflated, sighing loudly. 

Archie tried first. “It’s just that...we’re going after a magical creature and-”

“I understand. I must be kept safe from the Order.” Nari finished sadly. “I just wish I could go out more often, like the rest of you.” She pulled her hands up around her biceps, rubbing them slightly. “I miss the freedom of the forest.”

The statement fell over the room like a weighted blanket, crushing everyone softly. Zoe sent a pleading look to Douxie only to find him sending an identical look to Merlin. After a few moments, Merlin sighed. 

“Alright, fine. I suppose we’ll all travel to hunt the creature.” Nari immediately yelped with joy, throwing her hands in the air. “But Nari, at the first sign of trouble, you are to return back here with a guardian.” The sorceress nodded excitedly as Merlin turned his glare to his apprentice. “Hisirdoux, you shall treat this ordeal as a training session. Maybe we can make some progress on your magic. The rest of you-” He glared at Zoe now, not even bothering to fully address Archie. “-had better not screw this up.”

Zoe stuck her foot out and tripped the old man as he walked through the doorway. 

**************

“I really think we should have found something by now,” Douxie suggested, holding his hand up and shining light on the maintenance tunnel around them. After a great deal of struggling, he’d managed to cast and hold his simple light spell. Zoe was proud of him, even if it looked like it was slowly taking its toll. His eyes appeared more sunken than they had earlier in the day and his breathing was slightly harsher than everyone else’s. 

“Hey, I gave you all the information I had. Some of my coworkers said they’ve been feeling slight earthquakes and they think something’s hiding in the abandoned railways. That’s all I’ve got.”

Merlin huffed. “It’s probably just a colony of dwarves or something. The way you three were talking about it made it seem like an actual threat. We’re just chasing rumors.” He clicked his tongue, shining his own light spell from his staff. “Seems more like a waste of my time.”

“Well I am grateful for the walk. It feels nice to stretch my roots.” Nari spread her fingers, seemingly feeling everything around her. 

“Aww, see?” Zoe smiled up at Merlin. “Not a waste of time.” 

The old man rolled his eyes. “Are you sure that information you received was reliable? And not a simple  _ feeling _ that something was down here?”   
  
The sassy smile immediately dropped from Zoe’s face. She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“What do you call it...Intuition? It's just...in all my time studying magic, I’ve never heard of such a thing. I can’t fathom how it works or how it's remotely helpful.” He spoke matter-of-factly, not even sounding like he was trying to upset her. 

Archie came to her defense. “It’s a more recent type of magic to emerge. Zoe here is one of the first ones to be born with it. Quite a rare and unique ability really, and it’s saved our tails on more than one occasion.” 

“Plus, it comes in handy when she needs to diagnose electronic issues at her day job on the spot.” Douxie added semi-helpfully. 

Merlin maintained his bored look, but voiced a question with curiosity. “A new magic, you say? How long has it been around?” He eyed Zoe out of his peripherals. 

Archie hummed for a second while thinking. He looked up to Zoe for approval as he spoke. “Um...about four centuries?” Zoe nodded in response. She’d been born during the Colonial period in America. Unfortunately, that meant her powers chose an awful time to emerge: during the height of the witch hunts. For decades she hated her abilities, cursing whatever power had granted them to her. All they seemed to cause was pain and suffering for her and her loved ones. But, over time, she’d learned to appreciate them. She’d learned how to hone them and use them to her advantage (and the advantage of a certain wizard and familiar who constantly found themselves in life or death situations). 

“You are younger than I thought you were,” Nari spoke towards Zoe, an innocent look on her face. 

Almost immediately, Archie guffawed loudly. “Oh, yes. Douxie does tend to go after the younger ones. This is something we’ve established.”   


“Sock it, Arch. No one asked you.” Douxie grumbled as his familiar jumped on his shoulder and sat down happily. Zoe smiled. This was a particular button Archie  _ loved _ to push. It always ended in a flustered, blushing, embarrassed Douxie even though he’d done nothing wrong. But Zoe enjoyed watching it nonetheless. 

“I’m just saying, Douxie, four and a half centuries is a fairly decent age gap. Seems a little strange to me.” Archie looked over his shoulder and winked at Zoe, who stood behind the duo up front. Nari giggled from behind her, although Zoe wasn’t sure the spirit knew exactly what she was laughing at. 

“Yes, that is a large difference. How old were you when she was born?” Nari’s voice surprisingly housed a taunting tone. Zoe was proud. 

“Blimey balroths, it’s  _ not like that _ ! Ugh, you all-”

“And if I remember correctly, you did buy Zoe a decent amount of gear, herbs and armour when you first met. All I’m saying is that if someone analyzed your relationship, they might say you’re her...what is it called? Sugar da-” Archie didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence as Douxie frantically dropped his light spell, picked the dragon off his shoulder and threw him forward. 

Zoe covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. The throw-my-obnoxious-friend-as-far-as-I-can was a common defense mechanism Douxie used on his familiar. Eventually, Archie had picked up on the attack and found a way to counter it. He quickly shape-shifted into a massive serpent, wrapping his tail around Douxie’s wrist as the wizard threw him. The momentum Douxie had used to launch the shapeshifter became his own poison as Archie harshly pulled him forward, both of them crashing onto the ground a few yards in front of the rest of the group. 

“Ugh, will you two-” Merlin was cut off as Douxie blindly threw punches towards Archie, who happily slithered around, dodging all of them. Zoe watched with amusement. This was all a common dance. First, Douxie would throw and Archie would drag him behind. Then, Douxie would attempt some weak attacks and Archie would dodge. Next, Archie would throw his own attacks and Douxie would pull up his shield. Once the dust settled and both boys got their awful restlessness out of their system, they would laugh and continue on their way. It was always hilarious and entertaining. Zoe loved watching the dynamic duo and their bastard energy. 

….so then why did everything feel cold all of a sudden?

Caught up in the moment, Archie quickly transformed into a dragon and flapped above Douxie, who still sat on the ground. He opened his mouth as a small fireball materialized in his throat. It was something Douxie’s magic could easily counter. 

Unless he didn’t currently have that magic. 

“Archie, don’t-!” Zoe screamed out suddenly. At the same moment, the dragon realized his mistake. Right before the fire exploded from his mouth, Archie threw his head to the side, missing his wizard by mere inches. Douxie threw himself to the floor, covering his head as the fireball crashed into the wall behind him. 

“What are you-” The sound of Merlin scolding the boys quickly faded to the background as Zoe felt ice water flow through her veins. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. 

Acting on absolute impulse (something she did quite often), Zoe reached out and grabbed Merlin’s hand. She pulled him back with strength she didn’t know she had, causing the man to trip a few feet or so towards her and Nari before completely falling on his face. As soon as he landed, he whipped around to the girl standing above him. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a deep crashing sound. 

Zoe turned around just in time to see Douxie and Archie’s panicked faces disappear on the other side of a cave-in. “Douxie!” She yelled, covering her own face as dust and small pieces of rock fell down on her. Merlin slammed his staff into the ground, activating his shield spell. It blocked the three from the rest of the raining debris until it settled around them. 

When the world stilled, Merlin released his spell with a sigh. Zoe rushed forward, pounding on the rocks, trying to find a way through. She yelled Douxie and Archie’s names out, hoping to get a clear response. For a few moments, she thought she heard a muffled yelling, but she couldn’t be fully sure. Instead of hopelessly slamming her fists against immovable stones, Zoe focused on what she was feeling. Whereas she’d be freezing moments ago, a gentle calm settled over her now. That was a good sign.

“I can feel them. They’re okay.” Zoe turned around at the sound of Nari’s voice to see her focusing on the ground beneath her.

“Thank Heavens,” she heard Merlin mutter under his breath. 

Before Zoe herself could say anything, she felt someone calling her. Or, she knew someone was  _ about _ to call her. Her phone was in her hand within seconds and she stared at the screen until it lit up with a picture of her, Douxie and Archie. It was his contact picture. 

Zoe answered before the ringtone even had a chance to play its first three notes. “Are you okay???” She opened it to be on speaker phone for the others. 

Douxie coughed slightly on the other side. “Uh...yeah. Yeah we’re good. Sorry. That one was definitely our fault. Are you guys okay?” His voice was choppy and quiet. Zoe checked the top of her phone to see the poor signal she was getting so far underground.

“Imbeciles,” Merlin muttered under his breath. 

Zoe breathed deeply, allowing her panic to fully seep off of her. “Yeah, we’re all fine. Should we try and break through this?” She looked towards the blockage, trying to figure out if undoing the cave-in would just cause more structural damage. 

“I’d suggest we leave it be, lest it result in more structural damage,” Archie echoed her thoughts perfectly from the other side of the phone call. 

“You must continue forward.” Nari shouted towards the phone, still having issues understanding exactly how it worked. 

“Nari’s right,” Zoe continued. “We’ll head back to that last access port we passed. I’m sure there’s one not too far from you guys, either. We can meet back at that abandoned subway station we entered through and regroup, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan. See you soon. And be safe.”

“You too,” Zoe managed to slip in before Douxie ended the call. “Alright…” Zoe turned her attention back to the others. “Here we go, I guess. Keep a lookout for that exit door we saw.” She fell to the back as Merlin took the lead, flanked by both her and Nari. An awful silence permeated the trio, no one having anything decent to say. Or, at least, Zoe didn’t really have anything decent. 

Surprisingly, Merlin spoke first after a few minutes. He looked over his shoulder briefly to let Zoe know he was addressing her. “How did you know to pull me out of the way?”

Zoe rolled her eyes. He really couldn’t drop this, could he? “As I’ve explained numerous times already, I have something I like to call Intuition. It’s my magic telling me something is about to happen right before it happens, or it gives me an emotional sense of insight towards certain situations.”

“So you have Foresight?” His tone was condescending, accusing her of not knowing specific terms. 

She sighed loudly and dramatically. “ _ No _ , Foresight is different. Shouldn’t you know that? Aren’t you the ‘Legendary Merlin’ with the power of prophecy? I can’t glimpse the future or tell fortunes to scam people like you, but I can react proactively to danger.” 

His old voice grumbled something about the concept not making sense, but it was just a little too quiet for Zoe to make out completely. “Foresight does not simply allow me to know the future. Nothing is set in stone and it is thus impossible for me to accurately predict most anything. Instead, I see potential possibilities of futures to come. It is not simply ‘fortune telling’. But, I wouldn’t really expect you to know the difference. You have even more to learn about magic than Hisirdoux. And believe me, that’s saying a lot.”

Zoe shook her head silently. It wasn’t even worth arguing. Merlin was probably just being an asshole on purpose at this point. She tried her best to not let his words get under her skin. But he crawled like a centipede over her arm, driving her mad with the want to slap the life out of him. “Yes, thank you, oh-so-wise Merlin. Thank you for making me feel incompetent even though you’re the one who doesn’t understand anything.” 

Alarms began blaring in her head and Zoe knew that she should stop. Douxie had told her that Merlin was incredibly self conscious about his inability to be independent in their current society. Normally, she would’ve left the topic untouched. But today? No, today Merlin had pushed her just a few too many times. “Ya know, it’s ironic that you engrained the idea of ‘hard work before magic’ in Douxie’s mind even though I have yet to see you lift a single non-magical finger to do anything since you’ve come back into his life.”

“Um…” Nari tried to speak up, but Zoe was on a roll now and she didn’t plan on stopping. 

“Do you have  _ any idea _ what me, him and Archie have been through? We’ve lived through plagues, countless wars, witch hunts, nuclear testing and millions of other awful calamities that have haunted this world. And where were  _ you _ during all of this?  _ Sleeping. _ For nine hundred years. You abandoned your apprentice and left him alone in a cruel world that he somehow managed to survive. Then the moment you come back he ends up dead. Coincidence? I don’t think so.” Zoe paused for breath but could’ve kept going for years. 

“I think I have found the door!” Nari cried out loudly, running over to the entryway carved into the stone.

Merlin stopped walking, jolting his head to look at Zoe. “Mind your tongue, girl. You have no idea the horrors I’ve faced in my life, especially at Killahead.”

Nari looked between them nervously. “Maybe we should head back up and wait there for the others.”

Her suggestion went unanswered as Zoe glared back at Merlin. “Oh, yes, please enlighten me of the battle that you practically slept through. I’m sure it was very traumatic. So traumatic, in fact, that you had to take a depression nap for a few centuries to get over it. Meanwhile the ‘children’ who accompanied you instantly returned to a different battle and faced an even stronger opponent. But no, the Great Merlin’s experiences are clearly superior to everyone else’s.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm and animosity fell from her eyes. 

“Please, stop.” Nari pleaded. 

Merlin stared back at Zoe, clearly surprised she had the gall to continue ripping into him. A vein popped on his forehead and he opened his mouth to say something but never got the chance. The tunnel around them suddenly began to shake again, raining tiny streams of dust on the three sorcerers. Oddly enough, Zoe’s blood didn’t turn cold. For the time being, they were safe.

Merlin looked around quickly to assess the tremble, waiting to see if anything else accompanied it. When nothing followed, he stared daggers back at Zoe. “This conversation isn’t over. But for now we must return to the surface. I don’t like the idea of leaving Hisirdoux and Archie alone with whatever may be down here.” 

Although Zoe easily could’ve counter acted his words with her own, a warm feeling ran through her body. She eyed the old wizard as he moved past Nari and fiddled with the door. As quickly as the warmth came though, it receded. It was as if a single moment of concern had flowed off Merlin’s body before he moved on to something else. Strange. 

After a few flights of stairs, they found themselves back in the abandoned subway station they’d entered through. Zoe had done some brief research and discovered many deserted stations that hid beneath the surface. Most had been broken into and graffitied, but this one still seemed untouched (probably because they’d used magic to get this far). It was like a time capsule from the 1920’s, the support beams and remaining chairs giving off an early 20th century vibe. Zoe had made sure to take lots of pictures of everything so she could add it to her most recent photo album once she got home. 

The trio looked around for a second, waiting to see if anyone else occupied the space. Unfortunately, it remained silent. Zoe pulled out her phone and called Douxie. The line rang a few times before going to voicemail. Zoe’s boot began tapping on the ground as her anxiety slowly started spiking. She called Douxie again. No answer. “Maybe he just doesn’t have a signal,” she suggested helpfully, mainly to calm herself rather than the others.

A few minutes later, Zoe was bombarded by cold water. She pushed off the pole she’d been leaning on and scanned her surroundings. “Something’s wrong,” she supplied as Merlin and Nari looked at her curiously. 

Merlin responded dubiously. “That’s rather vague.”

“Shhh!” Zoe silenced him as she listened around her. Almost on cue, the tunnels began to shake violently, the strongest quake they’d felt yet. She pulled out her phone and looked at the screen as three banners popped up, one immediately after the others. 

_ Hisirdoux Ass-peran started sharing their location with you _ . 

The first was a notification, followed by two messages. 

_ Code red. found the thing. it's definitely not a colony of dwarves. _

_ SUPER CODE REF BACK UP _

“Oh no,” Zoe mumbled. She looked up to the others. “They found it. We need to go.  _ Now _ .” 

Nari closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on something beneath her. When her eyes opened a few seconds later, they glowed with determination. “I know where to find them. This way.” She sprinted away from the group, jumped off the platform and down to the railway. Zoe and Merlin followed wordlessly. 

Quickly enough, Nari led them to another maintenance door. Zoe swung it open for her and let the forest spirit enter first. She continued down more flights of stairs until it seemed they were back in the tunnel they’d been in the first place, probably just on the other side of the cave-in. 

Zoe gasped suddenly as she felt the air around her drop well below freezing. She took a deep breath as the others looked at her with concern. “We need to hurry,” she managed out before an ear-splitting sound rocketed its way through the tunnel. 

It was as if the Earth was made of glass and someone had struck it with a pitch fork. Reverberations shot back and forth through the tunnel, awful sound waves threatening to make Zoe sick. The noise quickly escalated until it peaked, shaking the entire area. It felt like the world shattered, a cacophony of glass shards crashing to the floor. Zoe’s perception faded in and out, moving from slow-mo to normal, then speeding up and falling back. Almost as if reality itself was being torn apart. 

And then it all stopped. 

It must’ve been seconds, but it felt like hours. Zoe breathed heavily and looked at Merlin for an explanation. What kind of creature was capable of something like  _ that _ ?? She never verbalized her question. Merlin’s face was drained of all blood, leaving him as white as printer paper. He looked back and forth between Zoe and Nari for a moment before sprinting down the tunnel towards the source of the noise. 

After only a few seconds, a new sound filled Zoe’s ears. It was softer than the previous one, but no less chaotic. It was as if someone had thrown dozens of sets of metal wind-chimes into a tornado. Metallic  _ tings _ flew through the air in no pattern or rhythm. But rather than being painful to listen to, their sound was muted slightly, almost as if it were happening in a reality parallel to their own. Like the spirit world attempting to break the barrier. Zoe furrowed her eyebrows at the thought. That didn’t make any sense. 

As the sound grew fractionally louder, a faded blue light appeared in the tunnel. The nearer they drew, the brighter it became until they’d finally found the source. Zoe and Nari gasped as Merlin stiffened at the sight. 

It was as if a single moment had been frozen in time. Douxie was sitting on the floor, one arm against the ground, supporting him, and the other extended outwards in defense. A beam of magic extended from his palm, flying towards where an enemy had probably stood at some point. His hair was messy and dirt was streaked across his face and clothes. Archie was cowering behind Douxie, one of his wings bent at an awful, obscure angle. A crack extended through one lens of his glasses and the other was missing completely. Zoe heard bits of their voices scattered amongst the sound of wind-chimes, but none of the words were recognizable. The noise was choppy and resembled audio being played in reverse. 

“What in the name of-” Zoe’s words were lost as she examined the scene in front of her. She looked up to Merlin. “What kind of creature can do this? And can we  _ undo _ it?” Douxie’s face was frozen in a grimace, his eyes filled with fear and doubt. It was not an expression Zoe wanted ingrained into her mind. 

Merlin spoke as if he were reading a eulogy. “No creature did this to them. This is broken magic. Hisirdoux must’ve attempted a spell despite me specifically warning him not to. And it appears his magic backfired on him and Archie.”

“Well...can we fix it?” Zoe’s tone came out frustrated and angry, but the old wizard didn’t seem to take offense. 

“I...I’ve only seen this a few times before. I can try to reset what’s been done, but it’s going to take time. And I must work quickly.” He immediately knelt next to the scene, leaning his staff towards the duo. 

“Time is something we might not have a lot of…” Nari’s voice shivered as she opened her bright green eyes to look at the others. “Something’s coming this way.” As if on cue, the tunnel began to shake again. Dust acted like fog and disrupted Zoe’s view of what lurked just out of sight. 

Merlin looked over to Zoe desperately. “Take Nari and get out of here. Her safety is of the utmost importance.”

Zoe’s eyes were wild as her senses filled with frost. “No. I’m not leaving all of you here. Nari and I will try to lead it away while you fix Douxie’s magic. Right, Nari?” She looked over to the forest spirit, who was smiling excitedly. 

“No!” Merlin spat at her. “Nari must be protected at all costs!”

“Nari can protect herself!” Zoe shot back as she turned away from the man and ran head first into danger. A small patter at her side let her know Nari was with her. The two purposely ignored Merlin’s cries towards them. It had been a while since Zoe was in straight combat, as Douxie normally took charge of that department if their hunts came down to it. Typically, they relied on Zoe for everything except direct battle. Most often, she was their ‘oh shit’ wild card to play at the 11th hour. 

Unfortunately, it seemed the clock had just struck 23:00. 

Zoe felt more than saw an attack coming directly for them. She tackled Nari suddenly, sending them flying to the side of the tunnel. Right as she did, a massive paw slammed down where they’d been standing. The faint blue glow of Douxie’s magic illuminated the beast in front of them just enough to make out. 

It’s body appeared to be feline with matted fur that trailed down its back. It’s paws were huge, about the size of a suitcase, and large talons extended from the toes where claws should’ve been. Its spine appeared to be elevated in regards to the rest of its body and travelled down into a tail made of vertebrae. At the end was something that looked like a claw and appeared to be dripping some sort of liquid. Arguably the most horrifying part however, was the very human face attached to its cat-like neck. Despite its two eyes, nose and mouth, the monster seemed to lack any sort of humanity. Foam dripped from its mouth and its eyes glowed red with madness. 

Nari choked next to her. “The  _ Manticore!? _ ” Her voice dropped suddenly. “He shouldn’t be here...”

“Well, he is!  _ Fulmen Percutiens!”  _ The air around them suddenly became ionized as bright pink lightning arcked from Zoe’s palm towards their enemy. It was really the only attack spell she had and it certainly wasn’t cut out for rapid fire. But for one, single, powerful strike to knock the Manticore off balance? Yeah, it would do the trick. The creature stumbled backwards, not expecting any sort of attack. Just as quickly though, it recovered and let loose a noise somewhere between a shriek and a roar. The sound shook the cavern again, causing a minor earthquake. 

“Something’s wrong with his essence. This isn’t the Manticore I know.” Nari wavered behind Zoe, both girls struggling to keep their balance. “As much as I hate to admit it, we must put him out of his misery.” Absolute heartbreak travelled in Nari’s voice. 

“Ohh, I’m not really cut out for fighting,” Zoe murmured under her breath. 

Nari stepped forward slightly, allowing green magic to flow off her palms. “It’s okay. I am.” She spoke confidently, yet with a deep sadness. She set her feet in a strong stance and shot an insane amount of power towards the Manticore, knocking it over entirely. It screamed as it fell and the cavern shook again. It didn’t take a genius to realize the tunnel was once again threatening to collapse in on itself. An idea formed in her mind and Zoe knew how to use their surroundings to their advantage. 

“Nari, hit it again like that when I give the signal!” Nari nodded silently, prepping her magic again in her palms. Mustering as much courage as she could, Zoe sprinted towards the monster. As soon as it saw her moving it attacked, swiping its paws, scratching with its talons and striking with its tail. Attacks were coming fast and they were coming from every direction. But Zoe’s Intuition was on high alert and nothing could catch her by surprise. She easily dodged each assault, jumping over or sliding under each strike. Without thinking, Zoe just  _ knew _ where not to be and slipped out of the way with ease. 

Once she had its attention, she ran further down the tunnel, away from Merlin and Nari. Perfectly as planned, the Manticore followed, angrily stomping and swiping at her. Zoe’s mind was working on overdrive as she did her best to stay alive and  _ not _ get hit. Unfortunately though, deliberately using this much Intuitive power was quickly draining her. At some point, her mind short-circuited and she didn’t duck when she should have. The Manticore’s paw collided with her body, sending her flying into the side of the tunnel. 

Pain instantly erupted within her and Zoe recognized the feeling of broken ribs.  _ That _ was certainly going to make things more difficult. She looked up from her place on the ground to see the Manticore standing over her, breathing heavily and angrily. Sickness radiated off of him. He spoke in a raspy voice, sounding like death itself. “Now stay still, you pest.”

Zoe chortled painfully as she pushed herself to her feet. “Funny. I was about to say the same thing to you.” She whipped her head towards the others. “Nari! Now!”

And then she ran. 

Zoe’s chest was screaming at her to stop, but the invisible water flooding her senses told her to move faster. A blazing green light shot past her with immeasurable power. Zoe didn’t dare turn around to see its effect on the Manticore or the structure around them. A second blast of that magnitude was bound to cause collateral damage. She heard the ceiling dropping down behind her followed by a shriek that was promptly cut off. Zoe forced her legs to pump faster. She would certainly suffer a similar fate if she didn’t get out of here,  _ now _ . 

“Run, run, run, run!” Zoe yelled as she zipped past Nari, grabbing her hand and pulling her along. 

When they neared Merlin again, Nari turned around suddenly, casting more magic in front of her. Giant roots burst through the walls and ceilings, creating a blockade of bark between them and the tunnel. Zoe’s freezing insides warmed slightly. Nari grunted before she let her arms drop to the side. Then she turned back and looked at Zoe. “I’ve secured our path back to the surface. My plants will support the tunnel for now, but we must hurry.” Zoe laughed uneasily at the sheer power Nari easily demonstrated. Sometimes, it was a little  _ too  _ easy to forget that the little green plant lady was an unbelievably powerful, ancient demigod. 

The pink haired girl turned her attention to the others. Merlin was locked in the middle of a spell, chanting a long phrase over and over again. Zoe tried to make out the words but they all sounded foreign. Well, even  _ more _ foreign than usual. Slowly, his green magic creeped over Douxie’s blue aura. The windchime sound fell out of discord and began to follow an ascending and descending pattern. Douxie and Archie’s disembodied voices warped slightly, as if they were trying to come back to the present. Merlin released his spell suddenly, eliciting a large explosion that finally broke the frozen moment, sending both Douxie and Archie flying. Merlin immediately lit his staff to provide light for everyone. 

“....backfire...” Archie’s voice spoke up from the side of the tunnel as he melted into his place on the ground. 

“ _ Uggghhh _ ,” Douxie moaned, pushing himself up off the floor, cradling his head in his hands.

“That, Hisirdoux,” Merlin began, using his staff to push himself to his feet. “Is exactly what I warned you about.”

Zoe rushed to Archie first, as he appeared to be the most wounded. She supported him gently, allowing him to come back to a standing position. “Your wing looks pretty busted up, Arch.”

The dragon winced slightly. “No matter. I’ll just…” In a flash, he transformed back into his cat form, letting loose a sharp yelp as he did so. Archie then slowly stretched his back and extended his legs out. He released a slight gasp but otherwise appeared okay. “I’ll be sore and stuck as a cat for a bit, but I’ll live.” He gave her a smile. 

Zoe instantly scooped him up into her arms and buried her face in his fur. “Oh, you two need to stop doing this to me.” Archie slowly moved to her shoulder and laid down, wrapping himself around her neck. The extra weight didn’t feel great on her chest, but Zoe didn’t say anything. Instead, she reached down and picked up his glasses before standing up and handing them back to Archie. He took them and placed them on his face, despite being horribly broken. 

“Where we are we are we where...?” Douxie slurred as Nari and Merlin hoisted him to his feet. He was looking off to the side, not making eye contact with anyone. Merlin waved a hand in front of his face but received no reaction. 

Zoe looked at Merlin with concern. “Is he alright?”

Merlin sighed. “It’s impossible to be sure of the residual effects his magic may have had on him at this time.” He looked at his apprentice warily. “I’m sure it’s only temporary.”

Douxie just continued spewing disjointed questions, panic starting to creep into his voice. Merlin patted his shoulder in a sad attempt at comfort. 

“We must return home immediately,” Nari said, stepping away from Merlin and towards Zoe. “I’m not sure how long my plants can support this tunnel.”

“Then let’s not waste anymore time.” Merlin spoke quickly, one arm still supporting a very confused Douxie as he turned back towards the exit. For a split moment, though, the older man held Zoe’s gaze. He didn’t smile, but he also didn’t frown. He simply regarded her and turned away.

Zoe tilted her head out of suspicion. “Was that…”

Archie chuckled tiredly on her shoulder. “Well, my dear, I’m not sure what you did, but Merlin seems to be intrigued. Congratulations. You’re one of the few.”

***************

The walk back home had been agonizing, but eventually the five of them collapsed back into the living room. By the time they’d gotten back, Douxie’s debilitating state of confusion seemed to have worn off a little, at least to the point where he was recognizing his surroundings. He plopped down in the middle of their cheap couch, laying his head back as Merlin and Zoe sat on either side of him. The former gently shifted and lowered Archie down to his wizard’s lap. A loud purr almost instantly filled the room when Douxie’s arms instinctually wrapped around the cat. Nari hopped on to the back of the couch, crouching behind all of them. She placed her hands on Douxie’s head, but the movement elicited no reaction. Zoe watched on with concern, her hand slipping into her friend’s out of instinct. 

For a brief moment, pure green energy flowed into Douxie. His tense expression remained for a second before it relaxed. Merlin looked up to Nari with a questioning glance. 

“Is it reversible?” 

Nari sent a wavering smile, addressing Douxie directly. He reacted clearly to her words. “Your magic did quite a number on you, but you’ll be okay shortly. Unfortunately, your magic will most likely be permanently damaged.”

“Mmmm ok, sounds good.” Douxie sighed out, not quite understanding the weight of Nari’s words. 

“What do you-  _ ah, _ ” Zoe attempted to twist her body towards the back of the couch, but her ribs loudly protested the movement. Instead, she sunk back into the cushions like Douxie and laid her head backwards in order to look at Nari from a downward angle. She spoke again, wincing. “What do you mean his magic is damaged? That sounds bad.” 

“Magic works in mysterious ways, each unique to the user. This is something we’ll have to figure out once Hisirdoux begins using his magic once more.” Merlin surveyed the broken trio on the couch next to him. Archie was folded into a cat-loaf, already half asleep, Douxie was in his own world and Zoe sat beside them, grimacing with each breath she took. He furrowed his eyebrows and hummed before he addressed the girl, specifically. “How often do things like this happen?”

Zoe turned her head to look at him without lifting it up off the couch. She raised an eyebrow. “This? It’s never happened. Douxie’s magic has never been ‘broken’ before.”

Merlin shook his head. “No, no I meant how often do the three of you nearly get yourselves killed?”

An empty laugh quickly burst from Zoe’s mouth, accompanied by a flash of pain. Her voice was strained as she tried to play it off as nothing. “Oh, I don’t even think I can quantify the frequency of it. Bad luck follows these two as if it's attached to their auras. In fact, the one time I tried to read auras, I actually  _ felt _ misfortune on both of them. I blame Archie for taking the form of a black cat and Douxie for just being clueless. Then, of course, I just get dragged along into it with them by association.” She tried to treat the situation lightly, but this was just a little  _ too _ close to the emotions she’d felt on that dreadful day a few weeks ago. Right now, everything was calm and warm. It’s just that...seeing Douxie and Archie sitting on the couch, fragile once again, was not bringing up happy feelings.

“But you’ve been keeping them safe?” Merlin lowered his voice and looked right through Zoe’s defenses. 

She furrowed her brows. “I mean, they’re both grown-ass magical creatures. I don’t babysit them constantly. But yeah, I have saved them from certain death on more than one occasion. Why?”

Merlin surveyed his apprentice and his familiar warmly. The nonverbal sentiment shocked Zoe, if she was being honest. “I pulled the two of them off the street all those centuries ago. Had I not been there, they both would’ve been executed on the spot.” Zoe nodded along as Merlin spoke. Douxie had told her the story more than once. “As soon as I let them into my workshop, chaos immediately ensued. Every day was a new disaster as I frantically tried to teach them while also keeping them safe from Aurthur’s wrath against magic.”

“Okay?” Zoe supplied, waiting for him to get to the point.

Merlin deadpanned and looked over to her, trying desperately to enjoy her presence. “All I’m saying is that it wasn’t easy. I looked after them for a few years.  _ You’ve _ been watching over them for centuries. I can’t imagine what trouble they’ve managed to get themselves into.”

Zoe huffed. “Honestly, you wouldn’t believe some of the stories if I told you.” 

Surprisingly, Merlin smiled. “Try me.” Just as quickly as it had appeared though, the smile disappeared, morphing into a more neutral look. He looked off to the side, a subtle begrudging look donning his face. “Today could’ve gone better. But it also could’ve been much worse. We were lucky to have multiple wizards there.” He spoke quickly, as if he was hoping she’d miss his words. 

Zoe ran the man’s sentence through her head. If she analyzed it deeply, it  _ almost _ sounded like gratitude. A smile broke across Zoe’s face. Even if it wasn’t meant as a subtle ‘thank you,’ she was certainly going to take it that way. It suddenly felt as though she held all the power in the conversation. She raised an eyebrow and looked at the man. “Oh ho ho, look who’s learning to push his pride down.”

Whatever traces of happiness had remained on his face were long gone by this point. Merlin pulled a finger up and pointed it at Zoe. “I know my pride is a flaw and I accept it. You, girl, have yet to realize and accept your own flaws. I suggest you do that before it comes back to bite you.”

Zoe tried to shrug. “Yeah, but that sounds like an issue for another day. For now, let’s just bask in our victory, no? Also, I’m starving so...you okay if I order food, old man?”

Merlin made a sound of disgust followed by a small and angry “sure.” Zoe smiled wickedly, aiming her face back towards Nari. “How about you, Nari? Want a salad or something?”

Nari crawled down the back of the couch and plopped against the arm next to Zoe. “The one with the fruit?” She smiled guiltily. 

“Anything you want. Dinner’s on me. Or,” she moved her hand back slightly, reaching into Douxie’s pocket and pulling his wallet out. “Actually, it’s on him but after all he put us through today, it’s the least he can do. Right, Doux?”

“As you wish, milady,” Douxie slurred out, his eyes starting to slip closed as he gently pet Archie. 

“ _ Milady?? _ ” Zoe managed to heave out an incredulous laugh. “It’s been awhile since I’ve heard that one. By gods, you really are out of it.” She quickly ordered food for everyone, opting to make Douxie pay an additional fee for delivery since she really didn’t feel like moving off the couch. By the time the food got there, Zoe found herself leaning further towards Archie and Douxie’s sleeping forms. She vaguely recalled the sound of Merlin answering the door and speaking with someone as she drifted off. Out of the corner of her eyes, Zoe felt Nari placing a hand on her chest, allowing faint magic to seep into her. 

Her breathing became more even as a warm feeling flooded her, easing her deeper into sleep. Zoe felt her body slump against Douxie’s, her head falling on his shoulder. All she could feel was warmth. 

Most of the food didn’t get touched that night. 

**************

Merlin stepped away from the door, holding a strange disposable bag filled with differently packaged food. He had to admit, the smell was tantalizing. It had been a decent while since he’d last eaten and he was especially hungry after unexpectedly using so much magic earlier. Meddling with broken magic was...messy. Attempting to repair it was even messier. It was something Merlin hoped he’d never have to experience again. Unfortunately, now it was back at the forefront of the battle. 

He knew another amulet was needed in order to eventually defeat the Arcane Order. To properly create such a weapon, Merlin needed the assistance of another master wizard. His choices in this ‘modern’ day were Hisirdoux, Morgana or the Claire girl. One was broken, one had lost her magic almost entirely and the other was just far too new to hold out hope. 

A deep sigh caught Merlin’s attention. He looked over to the couch as Nari’s magic flowed into the girl with the brightly colored hair, lulling her to sleep against Hisirdoux. Merlin grimaced at the sight. It was improper for two young people to sleep so closely to each other out in the open like this. But Hisirdoux had done his best to explain how much had changed since the 12th century. Maybe it was typical for people to share this level of comfort with one another nowadays. It still didn’t sit right with the old wizard. Not many things were lately. 

“Something’s wrong,” Nari spoke quietly as she withdrew her hand from the girl and crawled off the couch. 

Merlin walked over to the kitchen and set the bag of food on the counter. “Many things are arry at the moment.”

Nari silently hopped onto the counter as well, staring at Merlin with her large, evergreen eyes. Worry plagued them deeply. “The Manticore was banished centuries ago. He shouldn’t have been there tonight.”

Although he was leaning on the counter, head slumped towards the strange fake rock that acted as a table, Merlin scowled at Nari’s words. He moved his head up slightly to look at her. “What do you mean by banished?”

“The Order trapped him in the deepest part of Limbo. He’d failed to complete a task for us and as a punishment we…” she trailed off for a moment, hanging her head in shame. “We sentenced his soul to an eternity of nothingness. He shouldn’t have been able to escape.”

“What are you saying, Nari?” A deep sense of dread ran through Merlin. 

Nari looked at their bag of food sadly. “I think Bellroc and Skrael are bringing creatures back from Limbo and sending them for me. If the Manticore was already in the tunnels beneath the city...they must know I’m here.” Her eyes flicked back up to Merlin’s, pouring out desperation and guilt. “Another battle is coming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ope, there it is. Turns out there will be a slow-moving plot after all. 
> 
> A couple things here: I had Zoe come from colonial America specifically because of her American accent. I figured if Douxie maintained his accent from his place of origin over the years, that probably meant Zoe did too (but who the heck knows). And then ofc I just had her exist during the witch trials for extra drama because I'm like that. 
> 
> I ended up using loose D&D character references a lot while exploring these characters during this chapter. So for any fellow nerds who are interested, Zoe just has like a stupid high AC due to her 'Intuition'. It's like a really powerful passive perception that she can deliberately turn active when she needs it. Of course, forcing it to be active takes a lot of energy. 
> 
> Now, Nari (to me) is kind of like a Paladin who took the Oath of Ancients except...she's her own deity? (idk it doesn't fit perfectly). Basically, I figured she'd be a crazy powerful healer with really high morals. However, given her backstory, I couldn't make her totally Lawful Good. I think I'd place her more on Lawful Neutral. My reasoning is this: (1) she's committed some pretty horrific acts in the past and that's gotta count for something, (2) Death is a natural part of the Earth. I know her title is "of the Eternal Forest' which specifically goes against the idea of death, but idk, you can't have one without the other. I see Nari as a really old, wise and balanced soul. I had her kill the Manticore in this chapter for that reason; she recognizes that death is a natural order of things and that it must happen in order for other lives to continue (plus it was the merciful thing to do). So whereas I feel like Douxie would do almost anything to prevent killing his enemies, Nari recognizes when it's necessary. LOL probably got way too deep on that. I just think she's neat. (Also, I want Nari fighting scenes super badly because I know she's a bad ass beneath her adorable exterior) 
> 
> Anyway...thank you so much for reading!!! Feedback is always appreciated!


	4. Chaotic Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween everyone!! I've kind of been rushing through this fic because I wanted to get this chapter posted in time for Halloween today. It doesn't really have anything to do with the holiday, but there is a jack-o-latern/scarecow monster and some potential poltergeist activity. Fun, spooky vibes for sure. Enjoy!

“Hisirdoux, are you even  _ trying _ ? If you can’t achieve this simple spell, I’m afraid you’re much worse off than I thought.” Merlin scowled at his apprentice as he attempted to summon his wizard’s staff. The boy held his right hand over his left wrist, blue magic sparking out from his palm. Merlin could see the deep tension in Hisirdoux’s face as he clenched his jaw, trying desperately to pull his staff out of his bracelet. 

A particularly large spark shot from his palm, exploding through the living room and breaking the lighting device on the ceiling. A dimness fell over the room and Hisirdoux sighed, dropping his hand back to his side. “It’s no use, master. I just...can’t do magic anymore.” His dejected eyes fell to the corner of the room, seemingly staring at nothing at all. 

Merlin breathed evenly, keeping his frustration at bay. He wasn’t angry with Hisirdoux for struggling with his (for lack of a gentler term) broken magic. Merlin  _ was _ however, very frustrated at their lack of progress. They’d had to start from the beginning, as the boy had yet to be successful with any spell. The outlook was rather grim and Merlin was beginning to reconsider the Claire girl from Arcadia as the necessary assistant for making the amulet. At least with her, they might be able to finish it some time during this century.

“It’s not that you can’t do magic. It’s that you’re not focusing hard enough on what you want your magic  _ to  _ do.” Merlin reached his staff over to lift Hisirdoux’s wrist. He tried to nudge it back up near his chest, encouraging him to try again. “Come on, once more. You must really focus on forcing your staff to materialize in front of you. Use your anger and frustration as a pool of energy to pull from.”

Hisirdoux jerked his hand away from the end of Merlin’s staff and snarled quietly, but he did as he was told. He breathed deeply before hovering his right hand over his gauntlet again, closing his eyes. “Focus on your internal energy, Hisirdoux. At the moment, yours is twisted, bent, or maybe even shattered. You need to work on realigning it. Find a path and unwind it. Use your muscle memory. You know how to do this. So do it.”

Sparks began to zap from his palm again, flying towards his left wrist. His taught facial expression twitched as he desperately poured every effort into doing what he was told. For a brief moment, Merlin saw a defined blue glow emanating from the gauntlet, promising a positive result. He subconsciously took a step towards his apprentice. “That’s it...keep going…”

The boy’s breathing began speeding up. His eyes tightened and a grimace flashed across his face. “Control it, Hisirdoux! Don’t let it best you.” Merlin found himself biting his own lip. If they could just get this one simple maneuver down, they’d have a starting place. It might not be a good starting place, but it was better than nothing. Merlin refused to believe Hisirdoux had completely lost his magical capacity. He just...wouldn’t accept something like that. 

More sparks began to fall from his right hand until they were showering his left arm with electricity. A lamp off in the corner of the room began flashing sporadically, angrily buzzing as a foreign force surged through its circuits. Merlin turned around suddenly, seeing the electronics in the kitchen reacting similarly. The small green numbers on their screens flashed wildly. The stove and microwave were beeping angrily. At least this was...an improvement?

“Something’s...wrong…” Hisirdoux managed out, gritting his teeth while his eyes remained sewed tightly shut. 

Merlin whipped his head back around to focus on the magic in the living room. “Control it. It’s your magic. You know how to make it yield to you.”

“It’s not...working.” Hisirdoux almost sounded like he was in pain now, attempting to reign in his tumultuous magic. The beeping from the kitchen hastened to the point where it was just a single tone crying out. Merlin heard more glass shattering and assumed the ceilings lights in the bedrooms must’ve been exploding as well. In fact, the entire room had begun to take on a deep blue hue, as if being tainted by the skewed magic. 

Merlin stepped forward now, towards his apprentice. He reached out and placed a hand on his arm. He could feel the magic on the threshold of a breakthrough. They were so close. If they could just-

“I  _ can’t _ !”

Chaos broke loose. 

Hisirdoux must’ve released the spell and with it, all of the energy he’d pent up. An aura of magic expelled out of him and attacked the room with a vengeance. Merlin felt himself get pushed back from the boy and slammed into the wall on the other side of the room. The furniture in the living room was attacked by the wave and upturned. All the dishes by the sink were pushed off and shattered upon impact with the floor. Merlin shielded himself for a moment until it died down and then hesitantly looked back up to his apprentice. 

What he didn’t expect to see were two people laying on the living room floor. Merlin pushed himself to his feet and stared at his own body collapsed next to Hisirdoux’s. Standing above them was a blue apparition. He was practically see-through and stared at his hand in horror. Merlin mimicked the boy’s actions and looked down at his own hand. He was able to easily see the floor below him  _ through _ his own skin. That was absolutely not normal.

“ _ Hisirdoux! _ ” Merlin cried, causing the other apparition to wince. “What did you  _ do? _ ”

The apprentice looked up at his master, breathing heavily and wearing a look of fear. “I-I don’t-I don’t-” He looked around the room again, trying to figure out how he’d triggered an out-of-body experience for both of them. “Did I-?” A look of horror crossed his face and he fearfully looked up at his master. He spoke tentatively, afraid to ask his question. “Did I kill us? Are we ghosts now? I did, didn’t I? I killed us and we’re dead now and we’ve been left here to haunt this apartment because of our unfinished business and we’re going to be stuck here for all eternity and-” 

“Enough!” Merlin took a few large steps towards the boy. Hisirdoux looked up at the old man with wild eyes. A glow caught Merlin’s attention and he turned to see his staff glowing brightly next to his body in the living room. His apprentice followed his gaze. “If my staff still emits light, it means I’m alive. At least, sort of.” He murmured the last part under his breath and looked back up to the boy. “You seem to have pushed us into an...alternate realm of sorts. Which, until now, I believed to be impossible.”

Hisirdoux reached up and ran his finger through his hair aggressively. He then grabbed the black strands, as if trying to rip them out of his skull. “But I-I was just trying to summon my staff! Not send us to a  _ different dimension! _ How are we going to get back!?”

Merlin huffed, trying hopelessly to gain control of the situation. Never, in his many years of practicing and observing sorcery, had he  _ ever _ heard of something like this being accomplished. Sure, he would joke about the possibility after one too many festivities with friends, but no one ever seriously thought something like this could actually be a reality. “Well, you’ll just send us back.” It was the simplest answer. Once they were back in their own bodies, maybe they’d be able to figure out how Hisirdoux accomplished such a feat and work their way up from there. “The good news is, your magic is still accessible. Otherwise this wouldn’t be possible.”

Hisirdoux looked at Merlin like he was insane. “Send us back?? I don’t even know how I sent us  _ here _ ! It was a complete fluke, I swear.” Under the disdainful look of his mentor though, his tone quickly changed. “But I uh, I can fix it. I got it, I got it, I…” He pulled his wrist up to his face, scanning through his runes to try and find something to remedy the mess he’d made. After a few silent minutes, his composure fell. “I don’t got it.” He looked back up to Merlin. “Master, please tell me you know how to undo this.”

Merlin, as a matter of fact, had absolutely no notion of how to get them back. “Of course I can fix your mess. I’m certainly used to it by now.” Hisirdoux shrunk away from the words, but Merlin had much more important things to focus on at the moment. “Did you activate any runes? Speak any incantations? Repeat to me  _ exactly  _ what you did. Perhaps if you do it again, it will simply take the opposite effect.”

Invisible gears ticked within the boy’s head as he retraced his mental steps. “I didn’t use either! It was just a simple summoning spell, there was no need for any additional elements. I don’t understand how it could’ve possibly gone this poorly.” He looked around the room again, doubt constricting him like a snake. A gray fog had settled over the area since their initial arrival on this plane, seeping the color out of the real world. It made everything feel sleepy and subdued, acting as a harsh reminder of just how intangible they were at the moment. It was certainly not an ideal predicament.

Despite the panic, pressure and instinct to yell and take his anger out on the nearest sentient creature, Merlin forced a wave of calm over himself. Hisirdoux had never reacted well to aggressive outbursts. They had always caused him to shrink in on himself and accept a degree of defeat even though that was rarely the point of Merlin’s lectures. Something told him that even after 900 some years of personal growth, his apprentice still probably wouldn’t respond well to a yelling fit. 

It still took every ounce of willpower for Merlin to keep his temper to a manageable degree, though. “Need I remind you that your magic is damaged? Possibly forever? Hisirdoux, there is no guarantee you’ll be able to master wizardry again. If we started with a simple maneuver and ended up here, I’m not sure what would have resulted if I’d asked a more complicated task of you.” Merlin felt confident in his ability to tone back his anger. That wasn’t too harsh a lecture, right?

One look at the boy’s crestfallen demeanor told him the exact opposite. “I...I finally earned my staff. Just so I could lose it?” He released a sigh that sounded like the moon falling out of the Earth’s orbit, dropping into an endless void of space beneath it. 

“That’s not what matters right now!” Merlin winced slightly at the brazenness of his own voice. He was just...frustrated with a lot at the moment. Once they’d returned to their living bodies, he could calm down and work some things out. But right now? Right now he needed to prioritize. “You can still do magic, that much is clear. Now, even if you didn’t use runes or anything else, I need you to do exactly what you did to get us here.”

Hisirdoux replied monotonously. “Of course, Master.” He closed his eyes again, focusing on his magic. He repeated his actions from before, hovering his right hand over his left one. For a moment, Merlin saw what might be the spark of magic. Just as a glow began to stabilize, the door to the apartment burst open with the force of a cavalry. 

A flash of pink, green and black exploded into the room, immediately rushing to the prone forms laying on the living room floor. Nari rushed over to Merlin, extending her hands over his body in search of something. Zoe leaned over Hisirdoux’s body, gently picking it up and cradling it in her arms. 

“No, no, no…” She whispered, desperate to elicit a reaction from him. “I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t think...it wasn’t as bad this time...please, Douxie…” 

Merlin glanced at his apprentice’s apparition form, staring at the scene with horror. “No, Zoe, I’m right here.” His quiet words went unheard. 

Nari looked up at Archie worriedly. “I cannot feel their souls. Something awful must’ve happened.”

In response, Archie shook his head determinedly. “No, no this isn’t right. I can feel Douxie’s magic.” He looked around the room, trying to pinpoint something with his eyes. For a moment he seemed to make direct eye contact with Hisirdoux but then moved on. He looked back at the bodies, a look of panic now descending over him. “This...this isn’t right.”

Merlin reached out for Hisirdoux’s shoulder, trying to jolt his spirit back to the task on hand. The touch startled the boy, causing him to jump. “There’s nothing we can do to comfort them at this time. But the sooner you undo whatever spell used to cast us here, the sooner we can get back.”

Hisirdoux temporarily shook off whatever guilt plagued him and nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He set his stance and closed his eyes, focusing again. The sound of the others grieving and debating what had happened droned on as background noise. 

“Just tune everything else out. Focus on doing  _ exactly _ what you did to get us her-” An awful scraping sound filled the room. Hisirdoux’s eyes burst open and he immediately turned to Merlin. Merlin glanced down at the boy’s wrist. There hadn’t been any sparks nor glowing yet. He hadn’t used any magic. So then…

“What was that?” The boy asked cautiously. Merlin looked over to the others who sat seeming undisturbed by whatever had just echoed through the apartment. 

“I don’t kn-” It cut him off again, a sound like metal scraping against an unpolished stone. Merlin winced as his ears protested the noise, begging for it to stop. But instead, it grew louder, sounding as if it were coming closer. The two apparitions moved their eyes around with paranoia as the sound crescendoed. 

It finally apexed and came to an abrupt halt as the fog of the strange realm parted slightly at the opening of the hallway. Merlin and Hisirdoux narrowed their eyes, trying to make out the new form that stood across from them. As the fog continued to thin, Merlin could see a lanky frame, standing much taller than an average person. That should’ve been his first clue that this thing wasn’t human. That, or the fact that it glowed a dull gray, as if it (unlike the other two ghosts in the room) actually belonged to this realm. 

One of its arms dangled far past its hips, finally coming to a triangular point below its knee. The other was outstretched behind it, pushed up against the wall (Merlin weakly noted that must’ve been the source of the scraping sound). The creature wore tattered, dirty clothes and resembled one of those creepy figures people would build in their gardens to scare the birds away. Its feet were bare and surprisingly human, but the nails of the toes were much too long to grant any sort of comfort. Most strangely though, was its head. A massive orange gourd sat atop its shoulders. A face was seemingly cut into it, triangular eyes and a nose, along with a terrifying grin. 

“Oh, fuzzbuckets....” Hisirdoux murmured quietly. 

The creature tilted its vegetable head to the side out of curiosity, eliciting a terrible creaking sound as it did so. It spoke without moving its mouth, an awful echo whipping around the room. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen anyone new here...how long ago did you join us, friends?”

Neither of them answered for a moment, utterly frozen out of fear. 

“We uh, we’re here on accident, actually,” Hisirdoux pipped up, his voice wavering like a flag in the wind. “We’ll be leaving in just a minute, sorry to interrupt.”

The creature leaned its head over further, until it was almost directly parallel to its body. It’s grayish, fleshy neck extended with it to ensure the squash stayed attached. “Is that so?”

Behind Hisirdoux, the girl cried out again, slamming her fist against the boy’s chest. Archie meowed angrily at her, trying to convince her that they weren’t dead and something else was going on. The creature in the hallway extended its neck out even further, swooping closer to the scene to view it while his body stayed where it was. He looked at the bodies on the living room floor and then back up to the apparitions. Then back to the bodies, then to the apparitions. “Hmmmm….” he murmured out slowly. “I see.” His neck retracted back to his body, reattaching in a (somewhat) natural fashion. 

“I understand now.” It turned its head to Merlin. 

“Uh...yes. We’ll just be on our way.” Merlin glared back at it, a mix of fear and fake confidence plastered to his face. 

“It’s a pity, though. I’ve been hoping for new friends for so long. I was hoping you were here to stay for a bit.” The creature drew its other hand the rest of the length down the hall until it finally fell off, drooping back to his side. 

“We’re not supposed to be here,” Merlin tested easily. It didn’t take a genius to figure out this situation was delicate. But maybe if he worked his silver tongue, he’d be able to resolve this peacefully. “Thank you for understanding that we must leave.”

The creature looked back up, its cruel smile still carved into its face. “Oh, I never said you could leave.” 

Yeah, that was pretty much exactly what Merlin expected the thing to say. 

In the blink of an eye, its long arm shot towards Merlin, wrapping him in a vine-esque appendage, squeezing him tightly. The other arm shot out for Hisirdoux who, by some miracle, managed to dodge it and roll out of the way. Out of instinct, he held his hands up towards the creature, sending an offensive spell to attack. “ _ Magna Tawna Truess _ !”

Merlin could have cried from happiness when he saw a beam of magic actually shoot out from Hisirdoux’s hand. Except...the magic did the opposite of what it was supposed to. Instead of hitting its target, the ray dodged the creature entirely. It exploded into dozens of smaller beams and attacked the cabinet and bedroom doors instead. Everything began opening and closing, slamming themselves shut repeatedly with enough force to cause them to begin falling off their hinges. 

In response to the sheer noise suddenly escalating around them, the creature released its grip on Merlin, retracting its arms back to cradle its non-existent ears. It cried out, a horrible screeching sound that cut through the apartment. 

Zoe, Nari and Archie looked around them at the flailing doors and quiet wailing. Confusion etched itself into their expressions. “Is...is this place haunted?” Zoe tested, eyes wild and red. 

Archie smiled. “No, it’s Douxie’s magic! I can feel it! He’s here somewhere!”

Merlin glared at his apprentice. “Hisirdoux, what was  _ that?” _

The boy chuckled nervously in response, not taking his eyes off their opponent. “Not my initial intention. But look how it's reacting to the noise!” Merlin turned back to the creature as it quickly recovered from its sound-induced agony. Hisirdoux was right. Noise must’ve been its weakness. Too bad he figured that out moments too late. 

Coming back with a thirst for revenge, the thing threw its arms out again, aiming for the same two targets. The results were reversed this time. Merlin ducked, using a flash of magic to push the arm above his head and away from his body entirely. Hisirdoux, however, took a sideways blow to the gut. The arm flung him backwards, slamming him into the wall with enough force to knock off the paintings they had hanging above the couch. Archie yowled and hissed as the pictures hit the ground right next to him. He jumped away and looked around, trying to find the source of the disturbance, but he still couldn’t see his wizard pinned up against the wall right in front of him. The attack seemed to knock the air out of Hisirdoux. He gasped and coughed for a few moments, making disgusting breathing sounds. 

_ Sound _ . Merlin extended his two hands out, forcing two metal bars to appear from thin air. He slammed them together, causing an absolute ruckus. Instantly, the creature pulled back again. Merlin continued his incessant noise making. He even began screaming at the creature, yelling all types of obscenities or just screeching out his anger in frustration. If he was being honest, the whole thing was quite cathartic. The creature grasped its orange head, taking more and more steps back down the hallway.

“Hisirdoux!” Merlin called over his shoulder. “Cast your spell while it’s distracted! Something tells me this won’t work forever!”

“On it!” Hisirdoux sputtered, pulling himself to his feet. Merlin tried to watch him out of the corner of his eye, just to ensure nothing else was going wrong. He heard familiar zips of sparks as blue flashes illuminated their gray surroundings. It was working.

“I said you couldn’t  _ leave! _ ” The creature used its extendable arms to reach into Nari’s bedroom and pull her small mattress off her bed. He hurled it down the hallway towards the source of his pain. Merlin dropped his metal beams, rolling out of the way as it crashed into the living room table. The creature pulled more and more ammo from each of the bedrooms, throwing clothes, furniture, bags and anything else it could grab.

“ _ What is going on???” _ Zoe gripped Hisirdoux’s body tightly but kept her head on a constant swivel as items were seemingly flying through the apartment on their own. “Douxie, I swear, if you’re here somewhere, you need to cut this out  _ right now- _ ”

“What do you think I’m trying to do, Zo?” Hisirdoux’s strained voice spoke up from behind Merlin, his blue magic slowly beginning to grow stronger on his wrist. They needed just a minute more...

Unfortunately, the lack of noise allotted the perfect opportunity for the creature to attack. It struck its arms out again, successfully trapping both of the wizards fighting against it. Merlin’s heart fell to his stomach as Hisirdoux’s spell dropped completely. The creature sucked them back towards it, its smile never wavering as it held them up in the air to observe. 

“Poor creatures. Your time has been cut short. But you’ll soon see how much fun it can be living here with me. I promise I make great company.” He started to stalk backwards, his prey secured within his grasp. The living room was fading, the world becoming more gray as the creature pulled him and Hisirdoux further into whatever awful realm they’d accidentally ended up in. 

Merlin was beginning to struggle for breath as his constraints began gripping tighter. He knew which incantation he needed to use, but  _ saying _ it aloud was proving to be much more difficult that it should’ve been. With one final attempt, Merlin gasped out his command. “ _ Exsolutus!” _ A wave of energy burst out from his center, forcing anything surrounding him to loosen and release. The spell worked exactly as he expected it to, expelling the creature’s arm off of him and allowing Merlin to drop back to the ground. He knelt for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He looked back up to his squirming apprentice and was about to call out, telling him to try and use the same spell, when a shout cut through the air. 

“ _ Exsolutus! _ ” Hisirdoux attempted the incantation without being asked. Merlin hoped with all his effort that the boy’s magic would come through and do as it was expected for the first time in weeks.

Of course, it didn’t. 

Instead of causing the creature to drop Hisirdoux, an awful noise split the air and a flash of blue exploded near the boy’s hand. Merlin shielded his eyes for a moment before looking back up at the scene. The sudden sound had caught the creature off-guard. As before, he recoiled, releasing his prisoner and grabbing his head in pain. Hisirdoux dropped to the ground, his strange, glowing lute extended out beside him. 

“I did it! I summoned my staff!” His mouth broke open into a grin, expanding all the way up to his ears. 

“Not now, boy! Quick! Play your dreadful noise!” Merlin almost missed the glare Hisirdoux sent his way before pulling his instrument up to his stomach. Instantly, the lute began screeching horrible, electrical ‘music’. Hisirdoux pushed himself to his feet, clearly enjoying scraping his fingers across the metal wires. The creature began wailing again, the sheer volume of the sound overwhelming its senses entirely. 

Merlin reached out and grabbed his apprentice’s shoulder, pulling him back to the gray vibrance of the living room. “Keep playing!” He shouted over the music, a command Hisirdoux was happy to abide by. 

The boy was clearly enjoying himself, his blue magic pouring off him and his instrument in powerful waves, exploding across the entire realm of the apartment. A grand smile was plastered to his face as he lost himself in his cacophony. “Not that I’m complaining,” he shouted so Merlin could hear him. “But is it just me or does it seem like everyone we fight hates my music?” A short laugh ripped its way from his throat as he continued hammering his lute. 

Merlin rolled his eyes, but a series of gasps grabbed his attention. He looked over, noticing the others in the living room staring directly at the two apparitions. Nari’s eyebrows were furrowed, clearly trying to understand what she was seeing. Zoe’s jaw dropped and Archie wagged his tail excitedly. “See? What did I tell you? They’re  _ here! _ Douxie, keep doing whatever it is you’re doing! You’re coming back!”

“Hisirdoux, use the spell. Now!” At the request, the boy pushed his instrument into Merlin’s hands. 

“On it!” His position was more natural now as he pulled his wrist up to his face, focusing once more. 

Unfortunately, as soon as the sound stopped, an increasingly familiar screech echoed from further down the endless hallway. Two ever-extending arms emerged from the gray fog, aiming to grab its prizes once more. Merlin acted quickly, pushing himself and his apprentice to the ground as the arms flew over their heads. 

Hisirdoux’s magic flashed out unsuccessfully. “I can’t work under these conditions. You need to distract him!” He looked into Merlin’s eyes with a tone of seriousness. But more than anything, his eyes were twinkling with amusement. 

Merlin really,  _ really _ didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of playing his instrument, but he didn’t have much of a choice at the moment. “Curse you, Hisirdoux!” Regardless of his complaining, Merlin slammed his fingers onto the strings of the instrument. A noise even worse than the music Hisirdoux had been playing erupted from the lute. The room exploded with sound again, this time resembling the cries of a dying cat more than any type of melody. 

It was humiliating and obnoxious, but it was working. The creature was confined to the end of the hallway, unable to move any closer to the two wizards. After a moment that felt like an eternity, a bright, blue glow began emitting from Hisirdoux’s wrist. “Grab my arm, Master! Let’s see if this works!”

Merlin finally stopped playing, reaching over to touch his apprentice’s forearm just as another powerful wave of magic exploded from his core. This time, Merlin held on tightly. He felt magic wash over him like a waterfall, immediately followed by a sensation of being pulled by some invisible force. He didn’t dare open his eyes as he felt his soul being stretched like bread dough and stuffed back into a strange loaf pan. It wasn’t until he’d been forced back into his body that Merlin realized just how free he’d felt as an apparition. 

The color of the world came rushing back as Merlin gasped, sitting up from the floor like the undead. Next to him. Hisirdoux did the same, greatly startling the girl who was holding him. She dropped him harshly back to the floor below. 

Merlin’s focus immediately shifted down to the end of the hallway. He could see where it ended. He could see the open bedroom the hallway poured into. There was no fog, no awful screeching and no creature trying to drag him into some sort of limbo. 

Hisirdoux’s hands flew over his body as if checking to make sure all of his limbs were attached. Once everything was accounted for, he sighed contently, laying back into the floor. “Mordrax’s Miracles. I can’t believe that worked.”

“What worked? You just scared the hell out of us, trashed the apartment, appeared as ghost things and then zipped back into your bodies. Was this your  _ plan?? _ ” Zoe’s exasperated stare shifted from Douxie to Merlin. “Is this how you run your training sessions?” Her tone was far too accusatory for someone speaking to her elder. 

“Young lady, I-”

“Zoe, it was my fault.” Hisirdoux pushed himself back into a sitting position and reached out to grip the girl’s shoulder. He looked around guiltily at the apartment. “All of this was my fault. My magic malfunctioned, big time, and things got out of hand quickly.” He shifted his head to look at Merlin. “I apologize Master. I understand if I am not allowed to practice magic anymore after this. Things could’ve been much, much worse. It’s safer if I-”

“Enough, Hisirdoux.” Merlin sighed out tiredly. He forced himself to his feet, grunting the entire way up and using his staff to push him up completely. “Although this was technically all your doing, the blame doesn’t fall on your shoulders. Nor does it fall on mine. You know better than anyone that accidents happen. We shall chalk it up to that. Nothing more, nothing less. Though, it does seem that your magic is a little more...unpredictable than it used to be.”

“Well, I should say these events were rather unexpected.” Archie chimed in as he pushed up against his wizard’s legs. Though the smirk of being right was still draped across his face. “Care to fill us in on exactly what happened?” 

They did exactly that, all three of the outsiders quite surprised that so much had taken place over such a short period of time. “Well, that’s the last time we try to go out for groceries and leave the two of you alone,” Zoe spoke sarcastically. “Like, we didn’t even make it a full four blocks before I felt something go awfully wrong and we had to turn back. But I’m glad it wasn’t anything irreversible.”

Hisirdoux chuckled uneasily. “I wouldn’t say it’s fully irreversible. I think I’m going to have nightmares about the terrifying jack-o-lantern scarecrow thing that apparently lives in our apartment building.” He shuddered. “Nightmare material for sure.”

“It’s strange. I’ve never heard of this sort of magic before.” Nari was still contemplating everything, looking off to the side. “Only shadow magic has ever been able to transport people to a different realm. Are you sure you weren’t in the shadows?”

Merlin shook his head. “No, this was someplace different. Unlike the shadow realm, we could see everything that was happening here. We just couldn’t interact with it very much. Though, I do agree with you, Nari. It’s unheard of. Strange.” Merlin glanced towards Hisirdoux, applying the word to the young wizard. He smiled sheepishly under the unwavering glare of his mentor. “One thing is for sure though, we have much work to do. If your magic is...mismatched like I think it is, we’re going to have to go through each spell and rune to find out its new result.”

“But Douxie can still do magic, right? It’s just a little...chaotic?” Zoe questioned, biting her lip slightly. 

"Even more chaotic than usual." Archie chimed in too, tilting his head towards his wizard. “It appears your magic is quite powerful, and still growing. Maybe we really do have a chance of taking down the Order once we get everything sorted out.”

Hisirdoux smiled softly. “Maybe. But for now, we should probably get this place sorted out.” He looked around the apartment, causing the others to do the same. The couch had fallen forward, the dishes in the kitchen were smashed, cupboard cabinets were hanging on by one hinge. The small wooden table table was overturned and the chairs were skewed across the room. Not to mention Nari’s mattress and the rest of the mess that littered the once semi-tidy space. 

Zoe pushed herself to her feet. “Ha!” She chortled loudly. “You mean  _ you _ have to get this sorted out. Our task was to go grocery shopping: something we didn’t get to finish before being rudely interrupted. Nari, Archie, what do you say we try again and let them clean up their own mess?”

Archie moved away from his wizard, beginning to wind around the girl’s legs instead. “I think that’s a splendid idea.”

Nari attempted a smile. “Someone should remain here to ensure nothing else goes wrong while they practice magic. I’ll stay back.” Her tone of voice made it obvious there was much more going on inside her head. 

Zoe laughed again, pulling the conversation away from the serious tone. “And just like that, the guarded becomes the guardian. Let us know if you need any help.” She turned to leave, but Merlin’s voice stopped her. 

“Hisirdoux, why don’t you accompany them?” The boy looked up, clearly surprised. 

“But Master-”

“Ah.” Merlin held up his hand. “I think your efforts would be better placed purchasing some new platters and dishes. I’ll be able to handle this mess. Just this once, I’ll let you off the hook.”

Hisirdoux eyed Merlin and Nari warily. He definitely wanted to argue and question the reasoning behind the decision, but Merlin shook his head subtly.  _ Another time _ . 

“Yes, Master.” He gathered up his belongings and headed out the door with the others, the magical locks fastening behind them. 

Merlin immediately turned to Nari. “What’s on your mind, then?”

Nari wasted no time in beating about the bush. “This realm to which you travelled. It’s unnatural.”

“That much was obvious,” Merlin quipped back. “Do you have any idea what it might’ve been?”

She spoke hesitantly, unsure of what she was saying. “This feels like a new, yet old magic. I fear you and Douxie somehow travelled to a shallow level of Limbo.”

The words fell easily off her tongue, but they hit Merlin like a boulder. Could it really be possible Hisirdoux was able to transport them into and back out of Limbo? It seemed beyond likely. And if that was truly what happened, it was an astonishing power the boy possessed. “How...how is that even possible?” Merlin asked, trying to find his voice. 

Nari shook her head. “There are too many unknowns at the moment. It could have something to do with the Manticore. Perhaps his aura meddled with Douxie’s broken magic somehow. Perhaps this is an ability he’s always had, but has never been capable of accessing before.”

Merlin thought deeply. He knew Hisirdoux was able to open portals to Limbo. That’s how he banished dark and dangerous creatures. Merlin had taught him that much when he tasked him with watching over this realm. Was it some sort of evolution that his magic had made on its own? Hisirdoux was one of the oldest surviving wizards. With 900 years of constant practice under his belt, it was possible his magic was growing to heights no one could predict. But a gateway into and back from Limbo? That was power Merlin almost admitted to being afraid of. 

“This must be connected to the Arcane Order being able to pull the Manticore back from Limbo. Perhaps the barrier is simply weakening?” There were too many possibilities, too many questions, too many unknown variables. 

Nari sighed, dejectedly. “This could either be a great weapon or a great weakness. We must treat the situation delicately. We need to tell the others everything when they get back. It’s information that could be vital to all of us.” 

Sharing information, unfortunately, was not one of Merlin’s strengths. He preferred to appear in control of things at all times. Admitting something like this to the others might shatter that carefully constructed reputation. Nari had good points. The others needed to know what potential threats lurked around the corner. But...maybe just not yet. Merlin needed to do more research on the subject and present them with more concrete facts. Fear was a powerful enemy, but a flawless battle plan was the perfect antidote to something like that. 

Of course, he didn’t tell Nari any of this. He’d deal with the situation when the others came back. “For now, why don’t we get to work on cleaning up? Shouldn’t take long.” Merlin extended his staff out, lighting the room with green magic as objects floated around to their respective hiding places. In a matter of minutes, everything was back as it was. 

Nari relaxed slightly, everything appearing back to whatever state of normal they could achieve. She nodded at Merlin and walked out to their small balcony, attending to her plants and ensuring their safety. Merlin relaxed once the door closed behind her, sighing heavily as he leaned his staff against the couch and collapsed into the cushions. 

The others returned with their arms full about an hour later. Their movements were animated, jovial and easy. Due to the return of Hisirdoux’s magic, Archie and Zoe had apparently insisted on a night of celebration. A small pastry was set on the counter along with tiny pockets of sauce, cheese and meat (what were apparently delicacies in this society?). Lastly, Hisirdoux produced three bottles of wine, smirking confidently.  _ This  _ was something Merlin recognized. 

Throughout the evening, everyone laughed, ate and shared stories. They simply enjoyed the company and a moment of relaxation. Or, most of them did. Nari eyed Merlin the entire time, waiting for him to speak up. 

He never did. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're definitely eating pizza rolls and cookie cake because that's sure as hell what I get to celebrate an achievement. I decided to explore the 'Limbo' concept a little more because the series touched on it briefly and never really said anything after that (unless there's more information out there that I don't know of which is totally possible). So, I guess we'll see where it takes us. As always, thank you so much for reading!! I hope you all have a wonderful day.


	5. (No) Such Thing As Too Close (?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pfft, here's a 10k chapter coming at y'all's. Sorry about that. Apparently I have no idea when to stop. Regardless, this one's posted in honor of Day 5 of Zouxie week: Magic! 
> 
> Also, while I was writing this, I realized the idea was super similar to S2E8 of Warehouse 13 so I'm going to credit the idea to them just to be safe. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Happy Zouxie week, everyone!

Douxie sighed tiredly as he shut and locked the door to his place of business. Another city, another cafe that was open until the early hours of the morning. After only a few months, Douxie had moved his way up the ranks from general crew member, to supervisor, to assistant manager. The turnover rate at this particular establishment was remarkably poor and Douxie had more than a few years of experience to bring to the table. To say his superiors were impressed was a bit of an understatement. They already trusted him with closing and locking the shop by himself, claiming him to be some sort of prodigy. 

Douxie scoffed to himself. A prodigy of servitude, maybe. After all these years, he always managed to find himself in dead-end jobs. Not that it bothered him too much, it’s not like he could go into a career or anything. The lack of aging would be too suspicious. Although he _had_ taken some classes back in the 70’s, the credits had definitely expired by now. But still, he often found himself wondering what it would’ve been like had he pursued an actual job in the natural sciences. 

Merlin claimed it was pointless for Douxie to even hold a job at this point in his life. He claimed their expenses were paid for the time being and that there were much more important tasks to focus on. Tasks that required their full attention and effort. Although he made good points, Douxie still found himself searching for multiple jobs. At the moment, he only worked the one: a sort of compromise between him and Merlin. During any downtime however, Douxie found himself getting antsy, searching the web for any part time opportunities he might be able to snatch without anyone knowing. It was like an addiction.

After centuries of burning the candle at both ends in a poor attempt to make ends meet, he found himself at a loss suddenly, living in what reminded him of the comforts of the castle. Now he had ample time to train, study, hang out and _relax_. Even the thought of it now was making Douxie itch. He wished his band members were here. They had been an excellent way to unwind while still preventing him from sitting around and doing nothing. At this point, Douxie was pondering if they should attempt to open another bookstore, just to keep them all extra busy.

In the end, though, Merlin was right. The Arcane Order was out there somewhere and with Douxie’s magic still on the fritz, it was smarter to spend time working to improve it rather than working for minimum wage. 

Douxie shifted the two cups he’d been holding into one hand and pulled out his phone with the other. He turned away from the cafe, looking at the clock on the small screen. It glowed ‘1:14am’ back at him. He sighed and pulled his hood over his head, zipping his sweatshirt up a little. After living in California for so long, he’d grown used to mild autumn weather. Here in New York, it was already getting damp and bitter. They certainly had a cold winter ahead of them. 

The one benefit of getting off so late was that his schedule aligned better with Zoe’s. He couldn’t stop a smile from creeping its way onto his face as he took a long detour to her branch of HexTech. A good deal of the shops were closed now, only a few store fronts still illuminating their portion of the street. By no means did that mean the streets were quiet, though. It wasn’t called “The City That Never Sleeps,” for no reason. A decent amount of people stumbled loudly down the sidewalk, laughing with their groups of friends as a cold drizzle began to fall from the heavy, overcast skies. 

Eventually, Douxie had successfully woven his way to Zoe’s workplace. Through the open glass forefront, he could see her gathering her things and heading towards the exit with the rest of the closing crew. Zoe ushered everyone out, loudly telling them all to go home with unnecessary explictives. They all laughed and waved goodnight, heading off in opposite directions. Douxie shook his head as she locked the door behind her. He appeared from the shadows of a nearby alley, clicking his tongue in disapproval. “Tsk, tsk. Must you always use such vulgar vocabulary?”

The pink haired girl jolted from his sudden presence. She would’ve dropped the small golden key, had it not been stuck in the lock. “ _Shit_. Douxie, don’t scare me like that. I could’ve shocked you or something.” She reached back up to the key and twisted it the rest of the way before pulling it out of the lock and slipping it into her pocket. 

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m used to you lighting up my life.” His smile was soaked in mischief. 

Zoe attempted to scoff, but it came out as more of a snort. “My, my. Aren’t you cheeky tonight?” Douxie offered her one of the cups and she took it gladly. She sniffed it before lifting it to her lips and tasting it. “Hot chocolate?” She guessed. 

“Close. More like tepid chocolate. It’s been sitting out for a couple hours.” He lifted his own cup to his lips and sipped it slowly. Unlike Zoe’s, his drink contained a few shots of caffeine. 

She lifted her cup up to his, tapping them together to elicit a soft, plastic _clink_. “Oh boy, my favorite.” They continued down the street together, walking in the mutual direction of their apartments. Douxie’s was a few blocks closer, but he had already committed himself to walking Zoe the entire way home and then turning around. A comfortable silence settled over them before the girl spoke up. 

“So, what did I do to deserve your company on this fine evening?” She pursed her lips for a second. “Morning? I don’t know what 1 am counts as anymore to be honest.”

“Well, I just figured you would appreciate basking in my presence for a little while.” He threaded his arm through hers gently, coaxing her off their original path and towards a sleepy little park across the street. Zoe sighed, but the smile remained on her face. Douxie was happy to find no one currently occupying the area, a few evergreens and tall shrubs around the perimeter making a slightly enclosed space for the friends to relax within. 

“Oh, ok. So you just assumed I appreciate spending time with you. I see the miscommunication, now.” Zoe smiled as she plopped herself down on the cold, wet bench Douxie had led her to. 

He sat down next to her, their arms brushing against each other’s slightly. “I assure you, madam, I’m aware of your dislike of me. It’s just that my companionship can be quite humbling. I believe you could benefit from something like that.”

Zoe turned to face him, her jaw dropping slightly. “Hisirdoux, how dare you speak to a lady that way!”

He shrugged, a guilty chuckle escaping his lips. “I just call it like I see it.” Zoe slapped him in the arm. 

She took another sip of her drink and then looked over at him. “This is nice and all, but why do you have me sitting out here at 1 am in the cold rain on a Tuesday?” One eyebrow was raised, waiting to see what Douxie could come up with as an excuse. Little did she know, he had a very good reason to be out tonight of all nights. 

Douxie leaned over and wrapped Zoe in a tight hug, crushing her until she coughed and complained of a lack of air. She dramatically gasped and choked as he explained his thinking. “I guess I just missed you. Besides, today is a very special day.” He looked over to her, amber eyes glistening in the night. “It’s the day I met you.” His smile was as soft as freshly baked bread and Zoe couldn’t stop the faint blush that spread across her cheeks. But she pushed it down quickly, taking up the easier mantle of mocking him. 

She shook her head, still unable to banish her smile entirely. “Year after year, you manage to surprise me. How you remember this date is beyond me. I mean, you don’t even remember your or Archie’s birthday’s. How do you possibly remember when you met me?”

Douxie leaned his head back, looking up at the sky. “Hey, I don’t have total control over what my limited memory remembers or forgets. You just got lucky.” Deep down, though, Douxie had made a mental effort to remember this exact date. Whenever he could, he’d try and do something nice for his friend. It was his own way of repaying her for everything she’d done for him.

“Uh huh, sure. Whatever you say Mr. I Know Hundreds of Spells Off The Top of My Head. I know you have a soft spot for me. I don’t know why you try to hide it.”

“I’m not trying to hide anything, dear. You’re the one who acts like you can’t stand the sight of me. Unless you think I’m dead, that is.” Douxie meant it as a joke, lightly commenting on Zoe’s freak out from a couple weeks ago after the whole ‘I-accidentally-sent-us-to-an-alternate-dimension’ debacle. But as soon as the words left Douxie’s mouth, he regretted trying to make light of the situation. Zoe’s smile almost instantly fell and her breathing caught slightly. Just as quickly as it happened, though, she covered her facial expression with an easy-going one. 

“I’d like to see you put in that situation and not panic.” She changed the topic, though, before Douxie could make a comment. “How is your magic coming along, by the way? I haven’t heard you talk much about it lately. Any progress?”

Douxie reached up and scratched the back of his neck. “Well...it’s coming I guess.”

Zoe raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

He released a sigh, the breath solidifying into a misty puff of air as it left his mouth. “Yeah. It’s weird though. All of my spells have a different effect than they did previously. It’s going to take a while to get used to everything.”

“What do you mean?” Came the easy reply as Zoe lifted her drink to her mouth again. 

“Well, it’s like...think of my spells and runes as a sort of dictionary. Each one had a specific definition. Previously, when I used a word, the result was the exact definition I expected. Now, however, it’s all jumbled. It’s like someone reassigned the definitions to new words and nothing is as it was. Like, my spell for summoning fire is now my levitation spell. And my spell that used to create illusions now summons fire.”

Zoe breathed heavily from her nose in a sort of half-assed laugh. “Leave it to you to make a complicated area of study even more complicated. That’s rough, buddy.” 

“Tell me about it. So now we’ve got to document what everything does and it’s just bloody tedious. Not to mention dangerous. I have no idea if a simple animation spell is going to trigger a nuclear explosion or something. It’d be easier if we weren’t cooped up in a tiny apartment.”

Zoe turned her head, taking in their surroundings. “Well, you’re not cooped up right now.”

Douxie raised an eyebrow at her. “No.” He shot down the idea before she had a chance to present it. 

“I’m just saying, no one’s around right now, we’re about as far away as you can get from people in this city and it's the middle of the night. If something goes wrong, we’ll just walk away and pretend it never happened.”

Douxie pondered the proposal for a second. It was a terrible idea, really it was. But Zoe also had a point. There _was_ a particular spell he’d been hoping to figure out before this night came, but didn’t have the chance. Zoe had always loved it when he created sparks of light to hover in the air around them, like blue fireflies glittering before her. It was a simple spell, but the smile it put on her face was always priceless. Surely the consequences of attempting something like that would be worth seeing that look of peace if he succeeded. 

A few moments of silence dragged by before Douxie stood from the bench. “Eh, why not?” He tossed his cup into a nearby trash can and then cracked his fingers. He shook his hands out, warming them up. Zoe sat on the edge of the bench, watching with intrigue. Douxie looked over at her, an uneasy smile pinned on his face. “You ready for this to most likely go horribly wrong?”

She nodded fluidly. “Of course. Why else do you think I’m friends with you?”

Douxie found the particular rune on his gauntlet and selected it, allowing the magic to manifest in his hands. It felt small and basic, just as he was expecting it to, rather than large and wild like some sort of attack spell. He held the energy in his hands, whispering one last “Here we go,” before he released it into the air around them. 

As Douxie expected and hoped against, the light went haywire almost immediately. It zipped about him wildly, making countless circles around him. Zoe jumped off the bench and took a few steps next to Douxie. “Is this what it’s supposed to do?”

“Nope.” Douxie popped the ‘p’ as he spun around, watching the wisp move its way from his feet up his legs. It continued its tight circles all the way up his body until it popped away from the top of his head. Immediately, it found its next target and began doing the same thing to Zoe. Truth be told, he had no idea what spell he had just cast nor what the magic was hoping to do.

“Cool.” Zoe answered, not sounding overly concerned with their predicament. She twisted, watching the magic around her. “I mean, it doesn’t look malicious. Maybe it’s just like a health scanning spell, or something.”

“I’ve never really heard of something like that, but okay.” Douxie refused to take his eyes off the light. Once it was finished with Zoe, it flew up to about eye level with both of them, staring them down curiously. Douxie tilted his head, trying to read his own magic and figure out what it was doing. Was it just him or was it starting to grow brighter? In the blink of an eye, it split suddenly, revealing two shining spheres where there had previously been just one. “Okay…” Douxie muttered silently. 

Next to him, Zoe shivered suddenly. Douxie immediately recognized that reaction as her Intuition. Specifically, a negative reading of her Intuition. “Uh...Douxie-” She started, but never got the chance to finish. One of each of the light orbs flew directly into each of the mages, sinking into their body right where their heart was. Both Douxie and Zoe stumbled backwards, collapsing onto the bench behind them. 

Douxie felt something similar to what he had weeks ago, when his soul had been forcefully ripped from his body and left in some strange empty parallel reality. But this time, the cold feeling of freedom vanished almost immediately as he was shoved back into another body. He was able to briefly watch his magic move from his own body into Zoe’s and then vanish in a puff. The remaining magic floated up like smoke around the duo as they tried to catch their breath. 

Douxie looked up, trying to figure out what the _hell_ had just happened. The first thing he noticed was that his perspective was off. Everything seemed...slightly taller than it had a few seconds before. Ugh, and his chest felt awful. As if someone had ripped open his ribcage, dumped freezing water into his chest cavity and hastily sealed him back up. Douxie looked over to his right to see if Zoe was faring better than he was. 

Except no one was sitting on his right side. 

Douxie whipped his head around to the left, the sight turning his blood cold. Sitting there, staring back at him, was his own body. Douxie’s subtle yellow eyes stared back at his soul, wide with confusion and fear. He then turned his eyes down towards what he’d assumed was his own body. He was met with a blue polo shirt covered by a thin black hoodie. His too-short and thin legs were covered by skinny jeans and he was wearing a pair of shoes he didn’t own. Most concerningly, there were curves in his body he certainly hadn’t possessed moments before. For the first time, Douxie was noticing pink hair falling in front of his face. 

Breathing heavily, he looked back over to his body, where its current owner was taking her own talley. “Z-Zoe?” Douxie tested, his voice coming out a few pitches higher than he was used to. 

“Hisirdoux,” his own voice spoke back at him, a strange combination of an English and American accent fighting for control over the name. “What. The _hell_. Did you do to us!?”

A nervous laughter bubbled out of Douxie’s mouth before he could stop it. He brought his small hands up to cover his face in a desperate attempt to appear serious. “I don’t know,” he spoke quietly. “But I did warn you the spell was going to go horribly wrong,”

Zoe glared back at him with a facial expression that could’ve only been made by her. Except, it was strange because it was _Douxie’s_ face that was wearing it. “Not the time for ‘I told you so’s’. Undo this, _now._ You’re far too lanky for me to be able to function.”

Douxie scoffed at her words, but it sounded much too foreign for him to play it off casually. He hesitantly pushed himself to his feet. “Me? Lanky? Have you looked at yourself? Honestly, Zoe, do you ever eat?” Douxie wasn’t used to his waist being so incredibly small. 

“Hisirdoux Casperan. Not. Now.” His own voice growled back at him and Douxie tried to ignore how bizarre this entire situation was.

“Okay, okay. I can fix this. I’ll just...undo the spell. No big deal.” He held out his tiny left hand (he knew Zoe’s hands were small, but _seriously_ this was ridiculous. How did she hold things??) and out of instinct, pulled his right hand over his wrist in order to activate his gauntlet. Except...it wasn’t on his wrist. Well, it was on _his_ wrist, but not _his_ wrist. Douxie closed his eyes. He was going to give himself a headache. (Or would he be giving Zoe a headache??). 

After a moment of not doing anything, Douxie turned back to look at Zoe, staring at him with wide eyes. “Well? Come on! Switch us back!”

“I would, except...you have my runes.” He gestured to her wrist. Zoe looked down and her shoulders slumped. 

“You’ll still be able to access your magic though, right? It doesn’t necessarily have to be on your wrist. Or, here, let me give it to you.” She made to take off the gauntlet but Douxie stopped her. 

“Hold on, let me try something before you do that.” Douxie walked over to his body, resting his feminine hand over his bracelet, focusing on pulling his magic out to undo whatever had happened. To his dismay, pink magic cracked out of his palm, shocking Zoe’s wrist. She pulled her hand back quickly towards her body. 

“Ow!” She shot daggers at Douxie. 

“Um, okay, nope. You’re going to have to do it then. It seems like I have your magic and you have mine.” He smiled sheepishly at her.

Zoe shook her head, black hair falling all over her face. “Oh, no no no. I’m a hedge wizard, Douxie. That means no complicated, crazy, body switching spells. What I do makes sense. There’s no way I’d be able to handle your magic. You need to be the one to do this.”

Douxie sighed heavily. “Zoe, I _can’t_. It’s not going to be easy, but I know you can do this, okay? It’s the only way we’re going to get back to normal.”

Zoe ran a hand through her hair panickedly. She fiddled with the strands before pulling her hands away and wiggling her fingers uncomfortably. “Ugh, I forgot what long hair felt like. But no, I’m telling you I can’t do this. Maybe we should go ask Merlin for help. He’d be able to switch us back, right?”

“We really shouldn’t be bothering him with a small matter like this…” Douxie laughed anxiously. He would certainly be mutilated if he went home, woke up his Master and had to explain that he’d used his chaotic magic even though he knew the results would be disastrous. “Please, Zoe, I’ll walk you through it. I need you to try for me, okay? It’ll all be fine, I promise.”

Douxie watched his own face straighten out and then eventually accept defeat. “Fine,” Zoe muttered. But you owe me big time, do you understand me?” 

“Believe me, I know.” Douxie took a step forward again, gently lifting Zoe’s hand so he could look at his gauntlet again. “You need to summon the runes, okay? Just focus on them appearing on your wrist. It should be like second nature. Hopefully muscle memory will kick in.”

Zoe eyed him suspiciously before pulling her lids closed. She frowned slightly and Douxie could tell she was focusing. It was just a look he’d usually expect to be framed by either brunette or pink hair (as of late). Seeing it on his own face was a little more than strange. 

A few seconds ticked by before a soft glow appeared on Zoe’s wrist. She opened her eyes as the soft _woosh_ that came from it and was met with the sight of runes encasing her arm. “I did it!” She cried happily. 

“Excellent!” Douxie complimented. “Now, scroll through them like you’re scrolling through a playlist. I’ll tell you when to stop.” She did as she was told until Douxie made a slight ‘ah’ sound and gestured to a specific symbol. “That’s the one I used. Select it and then focus on manifesting it in your hands. Once you feel it completely within your control, go ahead and release it into the air. It should have the same effect. Er, the opposite effect, I mean.”

“Doux, I really don’t think this is a good idea-” Zoe started. 

“None of my ideas really ever are, but we’ve got to try. I believe in you, okay? You know my magic better than anyone besides Archie. You’re more capable than you think. I know you can do this. Just focus on making it do exactly what you want it to.”

Zoe nodded solemnly, as if she were signing her own death warrant. “I hope you know how much trust I’m misplacing in you right now.” Despite her words, she attempted to follow Douxie’s instructions. She pulled the magic from the gauntlet, trying to hold it in her hands. But whereas it was typically light and wispy in Douxie’s possession, it was now almost solid in Zoe’s. It looked like she was trying to mold a mass of blue blocks together, but they just wouldn’t fit with each other smoothly. 

“You got it, you got it. Just go with the flow. It should feel natural.”

The girl looked at the magic fearfully. “This feels anything but natural.” She pushed the form together more tightly, but pieces were breaking off and falling to the ground below. It didn’t take a Master wizard to recognize that the spell was unstable. 

“Douxie…” Zoe spoke uneasily. “This feels wrong.” 

It looked wrong, but Douxie knew better than to tell her to simply release the spell and leave it to its own devices in its current state. “Okay, don’t...don’t do anything. Let me…” He reached up tentatively, trying to take the spell from her hands. Maybe she just needed to summon it and he could cast it on his own. Zoe watched him uneasily as he reached up and made contact with the spell. At first it responded well, recognizing the familiar user. But it quickly seemed to realize the mismatched hands accompanying the soul. 

The spell became wild, sparking, jolting and breaking off into chunks. “Nope! I definitely made it worse! Get down!” Douxie reached up and pulled Zoe down to the ground, causing her to drop the spell. As soon as it was released, the corrupted magic exploded. A massive _bang_ echoed through the park, sounding like a cannon had gone off in the middle of the city. Which...well, it kinda had. 

Douxie did his best to cover Zoe from the explosion, but his small frame was really not built for shielding. Their corrupted spell exploded above them, showering in who-knows-what. Douxie winced. It was bad enough they were in each other’s bodies. Now they’d have to deal with whatever other magic had just rained down on them.

Zoe whimpered, pushing Douxie off her and coming back to her knees. “Okay. We successfully made a bad situation worse. We need help. Please, Douxie.”

Douxie followed her actions, going a step further and pushing himself to his feet. He sighed deeply, accepting what needed to be done. “You’re right. This is above my head. We need Merlin.” It was _not_ going to be a fun conversation. 

**************

“Gods, Zoe, do you ever _sleep?”_ Douxie rubbed his eyes harshly. When he opened them again, he noticed a good deal of makeup had rubbed off on his hands. An angry huff was exhaled through his nose. He’d forgotten how troublesome eye makeup could be when paired with exhaustion. And apparently Zoe was incredibly exhausted. Thankfully, they were on the last set of stairs before they reached the fifth floor. Douxie wasn’t sure he could drag his feet up another flight. 

“It’s called a natural state of tiredness, Doux. You should try it sometime rather than always pumping your system full of caffeine.” She shook her hands out restlessly. “It feels like your heart is running a damn marathon or something; I feel like I’m nervously dying. Besides, your mouth tastes like coffee. It’s disgusting.” 

Douxie looked up at her (a sensation he was still getting used to) “It’s not like your mouth tastes much better.” He immediately made a face, thinking about how that sentence sounded to someone taken out of context. 

Zoe moved to slap his arm, but she misjudged the height difference and lightly backhanded him in the face instead. “ _Ow_ ,” he complained. She looked apologetic for a second before a smirk took its place. 

“That’s what you get for being annoying.” She stopped in front of the correct apartment door, her face immediately falling as she recognized yet another obstacle. “Well shit.”

Douxie rubbed his cheek gently and followed her gaze. _Fuzzbuckets_. Both stared angrily at the door in front of them and its many, many, many magical seals. After the explosive catastrophe in the park, neither of them felt confident in their ability to use the other’s wizardry, leaving them stuck outside with no way in. They were so close, yet so far. 

“We’re just going to have to knock.” Zoe said, her words still choppy from a mix of accents. It’s not like Douxie’s were any better. 

“Ugh. I know. But it’s just going to make it so much worse.” Dejectedly, he lifted his small hand and pounded loudly on the door. The others were undoubtedly asleep, meaning his knock had to be exceptionally loud. Thankfully, Zoe was a lot more durable than she looked. The obnoxious pounding thundered through the hallway and hopefully, through the apartment. The duo waited a few minutes, but no one came to their rescue. 

“Bested by a door. How humiliating.” Zoe lifted her hand now, using the metal bracelet on her wrist to provide some extra _umph_ into the sound. This time, the clang exploded through the empty hallway, sounding frantic and panicked. Douxie winced. That definitely should’ve woken the others, as well as all of the neighbors, too. Hopefully they wouldn’t file another noise complaint. 

Inside, Douxie heard stumbling and cursing. He looked at Zoe excitedly. At least _something_ had worked on this awful night. The magic seals on the door began to be opened one by one, each making a soft ticking sound as it came undone. Finally, the physical locks were undone and the door swung open to reveal and very pissed-off looking Merlin in his sleep gown. 

He looked up to his apprentice (or, who he assumed was his apprentice). “Hisirdoux, what is the meaning of this! You know you’re not to bother me whilst I sleep. And why are you just standing in the hallway like an idiot? Didn’t you figure out how to undo the locks last week?” 

Zoe glared back at Merlin, an aura of wrath emanating from her. “Ya know, you were annoying to begin with, but being spoken to like that is just a whole other level of _nope_. I’m just gonna say it. You’re an ass.” She crossed her arms confidently. 

Merlin actually blinked a few times and took a step back. “What’s wrong with you, boy?”

“ _Zoe!”_ Douxie scolded his own face. “That was completely out of line, especially considering the circumstances. He was surprised by how brazen his voice came out. Douxie couldn’t remember the last time he’d spoken to Zoe that way. He was immediately filled with a sense of regret. His shoulders fell, relaxing to a more timid position. He turned his attention to the man standing in the doorway. He’d have to apologize to Zoe after all of this. It was just stress. 

“And actually, Master Merlin,” Zoe’s voice wasn’t meant to sound this hesitant. But when propelled by Douxie, it made sense that it sounded less confident. “We’ve got a bit of a problem.” Douxie chuckled uneasily. “You see, I’m Hisirdoux. And she’s-” he jabbed a thumb towards his own body. “She’s Zoe. We uh...we had a small mishap and we...we need your help.” His spare hand flew to the back of his neck, rubbing it anxiously. 

Merlin glared down at the girl and then looked back to his apprentice. He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. “Why did I ever think I’d be able to get a decent night’s rest.” He stepped away from the door, leaving it open for the two in the hallway. They followed without being asked. Douxie reached over and flipped the light switch on, causing Merlin to squint slightly from the sudden light. He whipped around to the duo and pointed to the couch. “Sit. Both of you.”

Archie came trotting out of the hallway as Douxie and Zoe did as they were told and moved over to the couch. “Douxie,” Archie began, looking into the face of the familiar. “You were supposed to get off work an hour ago. What’s taken you so long?”

Douxie looked over to his body, raising his eyebrows at Zoe and sending her a nonverbal message. _How do you want to go about this?_ Her eyes twinkled with revenge. She began speaking loudly, using her best impression of Douxie’s accent as she could. Needless to say, it was absolutely awful. “Oh! Archie! My most loyal familiar! I missed you terribly as I slaved away at work all day! I assure you, my only wish was to come rushing back home to you, but this demon woman distracted me and now our lives are in danger once again. Woe is me!” She draped her long arm across her forehead and fell back into the couch. 

Archie adjusted his glasses, slowly stalking towards his wizard. “Are you...drunk? I thought we talked about coming home like this.”

“Oh, lay _off_ , Zoe.” Douxie spoke up from beside his body. “May I remind you that this entire thing was your idea?” He turned his attention to his familiar. “Hey, Arch, it’s me. Don’t listen to anything she says, she’s just rudely mocking me for a situation that she put us in.”

Archie backed away from the two of them. “Ah. So you’re _both_ intoxicated. Wonderful. Well, I’m off to bed, then. Hope you two have fun in the morning.”

“Wait!” Douxie spoke up, cursing the higher voice as it spoke his words. “Archie, I’m serious. We had another accident. Zoe might need you to boost her magic in order to undo it. As of right now...we’re stuck. In each other’s bodies.”

Archie turned around, looking back and forth between them wide-eyed. “By the seven rings...how could you possibly have _accidentally_ done something like that??”

Merlin dragged a hand down his face. “My question exactly. What kind of nonsense were you two doing that could have possibly ended in this result?”

Neither of them looked thrilled to answer that question. Merlin waited for a moment before prompting them again with a “Hmm?”

Douxie tried first, his pink hair flowing back and forth with his uncertain head movements. “It was uh…” Merlin glared at the boy, pure crankiness radiating off him. Douxie was suddenly reminded of all of his mess ups in Camelot and the awful lectures they always ended in. His self-defense mechanism kicked in and an excuse rolled off his lips before he could stop it. “It was Zoe’s idea.”

Zoe whipped her head around, golden eyes blazing furiously. “ _What?_ This was a team screw-up at best.”

Great, now Douxie had both Merlin’s _and_ Zoe’s wrathful glares sending chills down his spine. What was wrong with him tonight?? More defensive words poured from his mouth, almost accidentally. “Well, I’m just saying, everything was fine until you told me to try my magic.” Ohhh, Douxie cursed himself. This was certainly not helping the situation. 

An irritated laugh ripped through the air and Douxie winced. Zoe stood up now and for the first time, Douxie was able to appreciate his height externally. On the other hand, he was truly noticing just how short Zoe was, especially while sitting down. “It’s not like you took much convincing. Besides, _I’m_ not the one with screwed up magic. This only happened because your spell went haywire.”

Douxie glared back at her, blue eyes cutting through the air like an icy knife. Zoe knew that was a sensitive topic right now. He pushed himself to his feet but the result was unsatisfactory, as he still only came up to about her shoulder. “Well _sorry_ for trying to do something nice for you. I guess that’s the last time I’ll ever make that mistake. Next year I’ll just leave you alone. That way there’s no chance of my magic hurting you.” His facial expression was angry, but he couldn’t stop the hurt from creeping into his voice. 

“Both of you, enough!” Merlin used a gentle spell to push the two back from each other, knocking them into the soft couch cushions again. Both Douxie and Zoe pulled their arms up against their chest and turned away, closing off their body language. 

Archie sighed quietly. “Knock it off, you two. Clearly there are more important matters at hand. You can argue once this whole situation is resolved.”

“What’s going on?” A small voice spoke up from the hallway. Nari walked down into the living room, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She broke into a grin once she saw who was on the couch. “Douxie! You’re home! And you brought Zoe!” She stepped next to Merlin and made like she was going to run up and hug one of them, but she stopped suddenly. “What…” she looked back and forth between them. “What happened?” Her eyes were blown wide, despite having just been roused from sleep. She must’ve been able to sense the misplacement of their souls.

“These two have managed to get themselves into quite a unique situation. We’re currently working on swapping them back.” 

Nari continued staring at them and then turned to Merlin. “We need to set them back, immediately. Their souls are in discordance with each other.”

“Yes, we’ve picked up on that,” Merlin pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperatedly. Nari looked like she had more to say, but Merlin continued before she could “Hisirdoux, what spell did you use to trigger this? And have you tried using that spell again to undo it?” He looked towards the body of his apprentice but quickly had to adjust when Douxie’s response came from Zoe. 

“That was the first thing we tried, but it...didn’t go as planned. Zoe doesn’t know how to handle my magic and I don’t know how to use hers. When I tried to intervene, it messed with the spell and made things worse.” 

Zoe mumbled something under her breath. Douxie looked over to her incredulously, his voice low and accusing. “What did you say?”

“Oh, here we go,” Archie grumbled, sitting down as the spectacle began. 

“I _said_ , it wasn’t that I couldn’t handle your magic, it’s that it’s practically unusable. Seriously, Douxie, how do you do any magic with this??” She held up the gauntlet and spun through the runes. “Any one of these could be disastrous and you’d have no idea until you cast it. And when I did try your magic, it was wild and uncontrollable. You’re really going to kill someone or yourself one of these days. 

A cold fury flowed through Douxie’s veins. “You’re just not used to magic as powerful as mine, that’s why you couldn’t control it. I’m trying to do my best to fix our little predicament here, but _you’re_ the one who can’t stop throwing insults at me. I’m trying to be tolerable but if you want to play dirty then fine. I have more than a few things I’d like to say.” He snapped at her, his lips pulled back into a sneer.

Zoe laughed loudly. “Yeah, right. Your game is pathetic, just like you. What are you going to do, call me less powerful than you or something? We both know your magic is stronger.” Her tone suddenly dropped from sarcastic to serious. “But strength doesn’t matter when you’re too stupid to know what to do with it. You’d be dead a hundred times over if it weren’t for me and Archie.”

Douxie growled at her, the noise sounding much more aggressive coming from Zoe’s throat. “Do you know just how many times I’ve saved your ass from dangers you weren’t even aware of? I’ve been doing it from the very first moment I’ve met you. But have you ever thanked me once? No. You just take me for granted. Well, I hate to break it to you, Zo, but one of these days I’m not going to be here to cover for you anymore. I thought you might’ve learned that lesson a few months ago but clearly me _dying_ wasn’t enough for you!” 

They were both standing again, moving towards one another, anger pouring off of them in waves. At this point, the onlookers of the conversation had melted into the background. All they could focus on was going for each others’ throats. Zoe snapped at Douxie, physically shoving his small body backwards. “ _Shut up!_ You have no idea the absolute panic you sent me into for four days! It was absolute agony! My intuition has never been painful until I thought I lost you! It hurt to wake up, to breath, to think. It hurt to be without you!” She huffed out of her nose suddenly, turning away and holding her elbows. “You’ll never understand that feeling.”

A chill flooded over Douxie as he realized that he’d gotten caught up in his anger. He hadn’t meant to snap at her like that, especially after what he’d already put her through. It felt like more and more waves of icy water were washing over his shoulders as he realized just how badly he’d messed up. To his surprise, Douxie actually began shivering, his teeth chattering as he tried to apologize to the girl. “Zoe, I’m s-sorry. I w-went way too f-far.” 

Zoe whipped around suddenly, concern filling her expression as she looked at him. “Douxie, why are you shivering?”

He chuckled, trying to alleviate the tension in the room. “Not t-to add another straw to the c-camel’s back, but your t-temperature regulation is a-absolute rubbish. I’m f-freezing in here.”

“No, no, no, no. That’s more than just being cold. That’s my Intuition, Douxie. If you’re suddenly super cold, that means something’s wrong. The worse it is, the worse the situation.” She grabbed his shoulders, shaking him slightly. “How cold are you right now?”

Douxie looked back up at her in disbelief. “ _This_ is what y-your Intuition feels l-like? Ugh, th-this is awful. I’m s-so s-sorry,”

Zoe jostled him again. “Douxie, focus. Tell me- _ah!”_ she tightened her grip on him suddenly, pushing his shoulders down as she sank to her knees. Once they were both down on the floor, Zoe reached up and gripped her chest through her black shirt. At the exact same time, a striking pain stabbed Douxie in his own chest. He found himself copying Zoe’s movements. He looked up to check on her, but found her skin glowing an unnatural shade of blue. The same color as his magic. 

“What’s wrong?” Merlin’s voice rang out suddenly, but the world felt like it was slipping from Douxie’s grasp. He tried to blink himself into cognizance, but the blue was growing brighter, blinding him until it exploded suddenly, his magic finally reaching its limit within two different bodies.

*************

Archie watched with fear as his two oldest friends sunk the ground, both clearly in pain within the other’s bodies. “What’s wrong?” Merlin aggressively questioned. The only answer was an increasingly bright light glowing from the two, finally erupting in an explosive flash. The others were forced to look away in order to save their eyesight.

When Archie turned back to look, only one form kneeled where there were once two. The pink haired figure looked at her hands, inspecting them for a moment before feeling her own chest and abdomen. She laughed out, happily. “Haha! I’m me again! Douxie-” She looked across from her where the other figure should’ve been. Instead, there was just empty space. 

Archie was suddenly on high alert, doing his best to try and sense his wizard’s magic to figure out where he could’ve possibly gone. It was no use though, as Douxie’s magic was seemingly everywhere. 

“Hisirdoux!” Merlin cried out, scanning his eyes around the room. 

Archie looked up to the old wizard. “Do you think he’s in that parallel dimension again?”

“No, that’s not possible. I was just in control of his magic and I didn’t even try a spell.” Zoe’s hands were wrapped around her arms, rubbing them up and down viciously. 

“I can still feel his soul,” Nari spoke up, looking directly at Zoe. “He’s within you.” 

Zoe looked at the demigod like she’d lost her immortal mind. “ _What?_ That makes no-” Another bright flash of blue cut her off. Just like before, the others turned away briefly before looking back at the scene playing out in front of them. Where Zoe had just been kneeling was now a young man, dressed in all black. 

“...sense?” Douxie finished the sentence Zoe had started. “Blimey balroths. What is happening…” he inspected his own hands as if they weren’t his own. 

“Uh…” Archie managed out eloquently. 

“Your beings cannot coexist like this. You must cast your spell to undo it! Quickly, before you switch again!” Nari rushed forward, pulling Douxie up to his feet. Archie had never seen her so panicked before. That alone was enough to tell him how serious the situation was. 

“Right, right, of course. Good news is, it’s an easy one.” He spun through his runes until he landed on the one he was looking for. Douxie pulled its energy out of his gauntlet with ease, holding it within his hands for a few moments. 

“What are you waiting for, boy? Cast it!” Merlin shouted at his apprentice. 

Right as Douxie looked up to his master, he exploded in a bright flash of blue again. Suddenly Zoe was standing there, holding the spell. She quickly realized what she was doing and panickedly released the magic. It flew around the room, slamming into the walls until it finally hit the balcony door and exploded with a poof. 

“Zoe!” Archie lectured. “That was the spell to reverse this! You need to cast it on yourself!”

The girl looked around at the others. “I-I can’t! Douxie’s magic is way too strong for me! Even if I were trained and knew how to use it, there’s no way I could cast it on my own! We need to find a different solution!”

Another flash of blue and Douxie was back in place of Zoe. “There isn’t another solution, Zo! Trust me on this! If I can’t finish this spell, I need you to cast it for me!” He seemed to be talking to himself as he pulled up the runes again. This time, though, he didn’t even get far enough to form the magic in his hands before Zoe was standing in front of them again. 

She looked down to her wrist. “Dammit, dammit, dammit ! I don’t know how to do this! Douxie!” She yelled out to the air. “This is all your fault, I hope you know this! We’re going to die as a combined entity and it’s all because you had to celebrate some _stupid_ anniversary!”

“Both of you won’t die. One will live. Your souls are fighting with each other, trying to decide which is stronger.” Nari spoke up loudly, her voice ripping across the apartment with worry. “You need to cast the spell. _Now!”_

Another flash. Followed by another. 

Douxie appeared for a moment, only to be replaced again by Zoe. 

“Oh dear, I think I know who’s winning,” Archie muttered uselessly. His heart was starting to fall into his stomach. There seemed to be a very slim chance this was going to turn out well. 

Zoe fell to her knees. “I can’t do this! It’s too much!”

Archie rushed over to her. “If you’re occupying the same space as Douxie, then that means I’m your familiar, too right now. I can help. You just need to put your best effort forward.” He placed a paw on her leg. She sniffled determinedly and nodded. 

“Okay, Arch, I’m trusting you.” Zoe pulled herself to her feet again, wincing slightly. She held out her left arm and closed her eyes. Her right hand hovered over her wrist, just as Douxie would do when summoning a spell.

_Flash_. 

Speak of the devil. “We got this, Zoe!” Repeating his previous actions, Douxie pulled the magic into his hands and attempted to reign it in. 

_Flash_. 

“I’m going to need so many Xanax after this I swear-” Despite her complaints, Zoe was actually managing to hold the spell. In her grasp, it turned from a brilliant blue to a fiery pink and then met somewhere in the middle with a purplish magenta. Even the texture of the magic changed. Whereas when Douxie would cast something, it would float easily through the air, it now seemed to be turning to some sort of liquid. Trails of the magic dripped down from Zoe’s hands, causing her to panic slightly. 

_Flash. Flash_. 

“Nononono, Douxie, it’s not working!”

_Flash_. 

“No time to be a pessimist, Zoe!” Douxie’s control of the magic flooded more life into it suddenly. He shaped it more into a more stable sphere. “It’s rea-”

_Flash_. 

“-dy,” Zoe finished. She held the spell in her hands successfully. She looked desperately over to Archie. “What do I do now?”

_Flash. Flash._

“Cast it like any other spell, Zoe. I’ll guide it!” The girl did as she was told, releasing the magic into the air. Archie immediately blew on it, supercharging the spell with his additional magic. It instantly began whipping around her.

_Flash_.

“Both of you need to focus on keeping the spell active, despite it being released! Carry it through!” Merlin shouted at the form in the living room. 

Douxie snapped back at him. “Yeah, what do you think-”

_Flash._

“-we’re doing, old man?” Zoe finished. She moved her eyes around with the purple orb that encircled her. 

_Flash. Flash. Flash._

Douxie had appeared again, just as the orb flew away from his head and came to hover in front of him. 

_Flash._

Zoe appeared just in time for the magic sphere to fly forward and strike her in the chest. Merlin winced, Nari stepped forward, a hand outstretched, and Archie perked his ears forward, unsure of how to help. Zoe fell backwards, her back landing against the couch. Her skin began glowing brightly with the strange purple color she and Douxie had conjured up together. Her form began flashing back and forth between both wizards uncontrollably. 

“Let’s-”

“-see if-”

“-this-”

“-works!” 

The flashing continued speeding up until it was just one single, expanding bright light. Just when Archie didn’t think it could possibly grow to be more luminous, it exploded. Two separated figures fell to the ground, each gasping and breathing heavily. Archie whipped his head back around as soon as the light had died to check on both of them. Douxie was on one side and Zoe was on the other. The prior sat up first, scooting over to Zoe and laying a hand on her shoulder. 

“Are you alright?” He questioned quickly, looking over her for any signs of negative after effects. 

Zoe gently nudged his hand off her shoulder, pushing herself into more of a kneeling position beside him. “I uh...yeah. Other than the additional mental trauma that just gave me, I think I’m good. Are you?”

Douxie replied with a nod and a smile. “I’m certainly never taking the size of my pockets for granted again.”

Zoe stared blankly back at him for a second before she exploded like a kernel of corn, laughter bursting out of her. She held her sides, doubling over and cackling at Douxie’s awful joke. Despite his surprise, Douxie quickly joined her. His look of panic and anxiety melted away into the sort of laughing fit that could only accompany a near-death experience. After only a few seconds, Archie found himself chuckling along with them. If nothing else, it was a stress reliever. 

The two teenagers were completely coming undone in the living room. Both had fallen to the ground by this point, barely even making sound as tears crawled out of the corners of their eyes. “I can’t...believe...you-” Zoe tried to wheeze out, but quickly fell victim to her giggling fit. 

Merlin just glared at the duo, entirely unimpressed. “Well, that’s enough nonsense for tonight. I’m retiring for the evening. _Again_. No one shall interrupt me under any circumstances. We’ll discuss this mishap in the morning.” He turned sharply on his heel and continued down the hall. Archie wasn’t even sure Douxie or Zoe noticed his departure. 

Nari looked over to Archie, a smile tinged on her lips. “Their souls are in much better synchronicity now.” They looked up to the two human disasters as Douxie tried (and failed, terribly) to say something to Zoe. No words were able to come out of his mouth as he made obscure gestures with his hands. Archie cocked his head to the side out of confusion but Zoe seemed to perfectly understand what he was saying. Having been stuck with these two for so long, he could normally at least kind of figure out what their childish rants and fits were about. But this? This was beyond his comprehension. 

“I must agree with Merlin. It’s much too early for this type of nonsense.” Archie smiled once more at his two oldest friends before returning to his bedroom. The sound of their giggles continued filling the apartment like an overflowing pitcher of water. 

**************

Zoe fiddled with the lock to her apartment, struggling to unlock it in the low light. That, and her hands hadn’t stopped shaking since her brush with death. To say the least, the evening had taken a rather unexpected turn. 

“After seeing you struggle with the lock at HexTech I thought it was just a one-time thing. But now I’m starting to pick up on a pattern.” A smooth voice whispered quietly in her ear, a teasing tone heavy in his voice. Zoe shoved him away from her. 

“You’re still on my shit list, Doux. Don’t think you can go back to cheesy banter so easily.”

He scoffed as she finally got the key to sit flush against the tumblers. The whole thing twisted to the side and she pulled the door open, causing a draft to rush over them. Zoe walked in, flipping the light switch next to the door. 

“I thought we agreed it was a mutual mistake. Besides, I’m the one who has to sit through a lecture tomorrow. Not you. You got off easy.” He shook his head as Zoe peeled her sweatshirt off her shoulders and hung it up on her tiny coat rack.

“Uh, yeah.” Zoe answered sarcastically, turning back to look at him. “Because I didn’t do anything wrong.” Douxie just rolled his eyes and moved across the small apartment, helping himself to Zoe’s bed. He didn’t even take his shoes off, just fell right on top, his feet hanging off the edge. 

She wanted to yell at him because that was _her_ bed and his shoes, though not technically touching, were much too close to her sheets for comfort. If it had been an hour earlier, she would’ve lost it on him. But now they were separated and in the correct bodies. She was done yelling and fighting, especially since it had just been an honest mistake. They both held the blame. 

Besides, being connected as one entity had been...a unique experience? Zoe already knew Douxie well. Like, really, _really_ well. They’d spent centuries together, after all. Now, it felt like they were pieces of each other. As though one wouldn’t be complete without the other. She shook her head, ruffling her bangs. That thought didn’t make much sense. Then again, were feelings supposed to make sense?

Zoe walked over to her bed (which was located directly next to the kitchen, just separated by a hanging sheet) and harshly shoved Douxie off. He landed with a crash that made Zoe thankful she lived on the bottom floor. He grunted loudly and pushed himself back up to look at her. “Hey!”

She just shrugged back, sporting a nonchalant expression. “Only people with real manners are allowed on my bed, thank you very much. Take your shoes off. Besides, you’ve been awfully rude to me this evening.” She pouted dramatically.

Douxie folded his legs into a criss-cross and obediently worked on untying his high tops. He still glared up at her though, a mischievous smirk tugging at the left side of his mouth. “Do I need to remind you of all the hurtful things you said in reply? We were both pretty ruthless.” His voice sobered for a second and his hands paused for a second. “Hey, Zoe, I didn’t mean anything I said. You know that, right? I think it was some weird effect from the magic.”

Zoe reached over and ruffled his hair. He scrunched his nose at the contact. “I know, old man. No hard feelings. We’ll just chalk it up to another fun adventure. Deal?” 

He pulled his first shoe off, letting it fall to the floor next to her bed. “Deal” He winked at her. Zoe rolled her eyes. 

If she was being completely honest, she had expected Douxie to leave once he’d walked her to the apartment building. Then, when he’d followed her inside, she expected him to turn around once she’d opened her unit's door. Now he was clearly making himself comfortable and she wondered if he planned on staying the night. Not that it bothered her in the least bit. They’d lived together before: her, Archie and Douxie together under one roof. It was only when they moved out to Arcadia that they decided to buy separate apartments. Partly because it was surprisingly affordable out there and partly because they figured it might be smarter to have two bases of operations given how many dangerous, magical creatures resided in Arcadia. 

Had Zoe necessarily enjoyed having two separate apartments? No. Not really. 

She often found herself over at his, or he found herself at hers. They quickly adopted the other’s living space as their own and the boundaries had once again disappeared. Here in New York, though, it was a little different. Zoe felt like the other apartment was Merlin’s and he was certainly someone she wasn’t keen on sharing a space with. But here, in her studio? This was as much Douxie and Archie’s home as it was hers (maybe even Nari’s, too). Zoe didn’t verbalize any of these thoughts, however. She simply stayed quiet, hoping that if she didn’t say anything, Douxie would forget that he didn’t live here. 

The person in question finally pulled his other shoe off and climbed back onto the bed. He bumped into Zoe as the mattress adjusted to the new weight, the two of them heavily leaned up against one another. “You know, I _had_ been trying to do something nice for you before everything went haywire.”

Zoe traced the pattern of her comforter with her finger, not giving Douxie the satisfaction of looking him in the eye. “Oh yeah? Please, do enlighten me.”

She heard him shake his head playfully. “That was my plan. The little firefly lights. But, apparently the spell it _us_ _ed_ to be now causes people to switch bodies. Good to know.”

A laugh shot out of Zoe’s throat before she could stop it. She still couldn’t believe that had happened. She found it even harder to believe that they'd both made it out unscathed. “As unfortunate as the consequences were, thank you for attempting to do that for me. I _guess_ it’s pretty of you...” She finally turned to look at him and was surprised to see his golden eyes staring directly into her blue ones. It appeared as though he’d been waiting this entire time for her to look at him. 

As the sudden eye contact, a microscopic flush appeared on his cheeks. If Zoe hadn’t known him so well, she would’ve missed it. As it was, she knew his exact thought process. Even after all this time, he still seemed to blush under her direct gaze. It was embarrassing and obnoxious and confusing and cute. Zoe admitted that it was really, really cute.

“I could uh...I could try something else in place of the lights though? If you’d be willing to humor me?” He spoke hesitantly, though Zoe wasn’t sure why. 

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re not going to use another spell, are you? Because I think I’ve had enough of that for one early morning.”

Douxie shook his head, black bangs falling over his eyes. “No, no, don’t worry. There is a bit of magic, but it’s just my staff. I can handle that.”

Intrigue got the best of her. “Mmmmm, sure. Why the hell not.” He smiled at the response and immediately extended his arms out. In a blue flash, an acoustic guitar appeared. It appeared to be made out of mahogany, a pretty nice material for a guitar. For years, Douxie had been playing whatever he could get his hands on. Now, with the ability to turn his staff into practically whatever he wanted, he was spoiled. Zoe had only seen his summon his staff/instrument a few times, but she had definitely taken notice of the quality. She was happy for him. After so long having crap instruments, he deserved something nice. 

Douxie adjusted his sitting position, pulling his legs up into a fold again. The guitar rested against him, slightly touching his lap. His fingers naturally found their places among the strings and he looked up to Zoe expectantly. “Ready?” He almost whispered. She nodded eagerly in response. She’d always loved these intimate moments between them, when a song was shared between only them. 

His fingers instantly began strumming a familiar tune, though Zoe couldn’t place her finger on it. She knew it was supposed to be a faster paced song, but he had intentionally slowed it down and decided to play it as acoustic. Maybe it was to keep their noise level to a minimum. Maybe it was because he felt the message could be better delivered with this type of guitar.

Either way, Zoe instantly fell in love with the sound. Though no magic flowed through the air, Zoe was captivated. Douxie’s playing had evolved over the centuries to something no one could possibly explain. Each chord he strung was laced with meaning and emotion. The sound of the wooden guitar was raw and _real_. It was the type of sound you couldn’t buy. It was a sound you couldn’t recreate with technology or teach with years of hard work. The sound was uniquely Douxie and Zoe. 

It belonged to them and only them. 

Zoe closed her eyes and began swaying with the melody. As the song picked up marginally, she heard Douxie quietly murmuring lyrics to himself. “ _Ever since we met, I only shoot up with your perfume, It’s the only thing that makes me feel as good as you do, Ever since we met, I’ve got just one regret to live through, And that one regret is you_.”

She smiled at the lyrics. It was a good song choice. She supposed it matched them well, sounding at first as though it were an insult. But since she knew the meaning of it all, she could recognize the love behind the words. A deep, everlasting sort of love that had endured centuries. An unspoken support of one another. A vow to never leave the other’s side, despite how bad things may seem.

And although he never verbalized it, Zoe knew Douxie was saying he loved her. She looked at him and smiled, silently saying it back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was pretty close to not writing that ending scene, but I just wanted a nice, musical moment between the two of them so I did it anyway :) . The song he's singing is "Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...)" by Panic! At The Disco. It's a bit of a funky song, but I figured it would kinda be up their alley, maybe. Besides, the lyrics made me think of this chapter specifically so I weaved it into the story lol. (Also, there's French in the song which works with this weird head cannon I have that Douxie lived in France for a while and is pretty familiar with the language.)
> 
> Anyway....Thank you so much for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it!


	6. Oh, What Tangled Webs We Weave...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note about Zoe in this fic. She's a hedge wizard, meaning most of her magic is done with the aid of gemstones and charms and stuff like that. (Tbh I didn't really plan this out too much which is why it's only coming up now haha). But yeah, so she has an innate ability to use lightning (something that's becoming more prevalent for hedge witches and wizards b/c of technology) as well as her Intuition. If she wants to perform any other spells, she needs other elements like stones and whatnot. Anyway, just some important background for this chapter. Enjoy!

Archie stalked through the many leaves that surrounded him, using the plants to drape over his body and conceal his form. Through the shifting fronds, he was able to make out his target. It was small and unmoving, but that just made it easier prey. Archie pushed his body close to the ground, making himself nearly invisible. He clawed the soft floor beneath him slightly, strengthening and releasing his nails’ grip in anticipation. Almost against his violation, the swaying movement of his tail moved up into his back legs, causing his entire lower half to wiggle. His eyes expanded to an intense degree, allowing him to see his surroundings clearly. There was no way the target knew what was coming. 

Without a second thought, Archie violently pounded on the scrap of paper and ripped it to shreds within seconds. It was a fierce battle, albeit short lived as his opponent didn’t put up much of a fight. A small giggle from across the room caused Archie to jump back into a composed, sitting position and he stood tall in the face of company.

Nari was standing by the balcony door, tending to her plants in the other corner. On Archie’s side of the room were about seven other small shrubs and trees, all tucked together to make a tiny forest in the previously unused space in the apartment. Nari’s eyes shined like a dew drop on a fern leaf as she watched Archie in amusement. 

The cat nonchalantly licked his paw, using his nonverbal cues to deny having any part of something as immature as playtime. But he couldn’t stop the small smile from gracing his face as he glanced at the carnage of his enemy beneath his feet. That piece of paper deserved every second of agony he’d delivered it. He’d had fun. 

Nari’s gaze suddenly moved from Archie to the door. She cocked her head to the side and addressed the cat. “Zoe’s coming.” She turned to look at him. “Were we expecting her?”

Archie followed her gaze, squinting at the sounds of someone in the hallway. “Not that I was aware, no. Perhaps she forgot something here?” The two simply watched the door, completely at ease as the magic undid itself and Zoe entered, her bright pink hair matching the mischievously bright sparkle in her eyes. Archie wasted no time in questioning his friend. “What are you up to?”

Zoe pulled a finger up to her lips as she closed the door quietly behind her. “Shhh. Is Merlin here? I’ve got something I need to show him.” She put her hand in her pocket, rummaging around until she pulled out a rather large pocket knife. Archie cocked his head to the side out of curiosity. The sound of rocks and gemstones knocking against each other inside the girl’s hoodie pocket didn’t escape his hearing, either. She was using her hedge magic and she was definitely up to something. 

“What are you doing?” Nari questioned, looking torn between her curiosity and concern for the literal weapon that Zoe had produced. Everyone knew Zoe wasn’t a fan of Merlin but no one was expecting her to snap this soon. 

Zoe’s wild smile was definitely not reassuring, looking like she was on the verge of losing her composure completely. She whispered lowly and had it not been for Archie’s decent hearing, he would’ve missed her words. “I’m trying a new identity concealing spell. I want to see if it works on the old man. If I just happen to give him a heart attack, then it’s a win-win situation. Where is he?”

Archie narrowed his eyes, highly suspicious, but he eventually conceded. Curiosity killed the cat, after all. “In his room. He said he was working on finding some components to help him make a new amulet. He is not interested in being disturbed by any of us.”

Another no-good smile. “Good thing he won’t think I’m one of us.” Zoe lifted up her knife in an attack position and winked at Archie. Then she bolted down the hallway.

Multiple very distinct sounds happened consecutively after that. The first was a war cry from Zoe. The second was a door being aggressively kicked in. The third was possibly the highest-pitched scream Archie had ever heard followed by sounds of absolute destruction. The last was hysterical laughter that could only have come from Zoe as Merlin’s voice screamed out threats and obscenities. 

A few moments later, Zoe came running back down the hallway, Merlin hot on her trail. His staff was raised and he looked like he had all intentions of killing their pink-haired friend. Zoe was in absolute hysterics, tears already pouring down her face as she fell to her knees in their small entryway. She turned around to Merlin, still cry-laughing as he held his staff over her threateningly. 

“ _Who are you!_?” He demanded, though the Master Wizard looked less than composed in his casual wear. 

Instead of responding (because she was clearly incapable at the moment) Zoe pulled the stones Acrhie had heard clanking inside her pocket earlier. She held them in her hands, attempting to compose herself and uttered a spell that Archie was unable to make out between her dying laughter. 

Her form flashed pink for a moment and then returned to normal. Archie looked over at Nari, trying to understand what was happening. The spirit seemed just as lost as the familiar. Merlin, however, relaxed his shoulder and took a step back. Just as quickly as he hesitated, however, he snapped back into an attack position. “What is the meaning of this?? Who are you?”

Nari and Archie looked back and forth between the two as if they were watching a fast-paced tennis match. 

Zoe finally calmed herself enough to speak clearly. She slumped back into a relaxed sitting position and held her charms up to Merlin. “It’s me, Zoe. It _totally_ got you!” She tried to keep a laugh in but ended up snorting it through her nose. Archie smiled despite his confusion. 

Merlin couldn't decide if he wanted to kill the girl or ask more questions. He eventually decided on the latter. “I don’t understand. What did you do? _How_ did you do that?” His staff finally relaxed completely as he rested it on the ground next to him. The emerald light died down slightly. 

The girl winked at Archie and offered her gems up higher for Merlin to see. “I figured out a new concealment or illusion spell. I’m not totally sure which category it falls under more, but either way, it _works_. Oh, gods, you should’ve seen your face. I need to use this on Douxie _stat_.” Merlin cautiously reached over and took the gems from her hands. He inspected them carefully as he kept one eye on the girl still sitting on the carpet.

“Hedge wizardry?” He asked, still highly skeptical. Archie assumed the only reason he still wasn’t in attack mode was because Archie and Nari were still relaxed. Both creatures had highly sensitive sensing abilities and if they deemed the situation safe, chances were it was pretty safe. “How?”

Zoe smirked. “I’ve always been progressive, what can I say?” She flipped her hair back. Or, she would’ve, had it been long enough to rest on her shoulder. 

Archie chimed in. “Zoe’s Intuition makes her a very special hedge witch. She has a pretty good sense of which gems and charms to use in order to create new formulas for spells. Though, I’m not entirely sure which kind she’s concocted for us today.”

Her voice was light with amusement but tainted by something devilish. “It’s an illusion-type spell, but it only works on the one person I wish it to work on. In this instance, it was Merlin. I’ve already got test subject numero dos in mind, though.” Archie couldn’t decide if he was intrigued or fearful of her tone. 

Merlin was still fuming, waves of anger rolling off of him. Surprisingly however, he kept it maintained. He breathed deeply, relaxing back further as he looked at the girl in front of him. “If you _ever_ try something like that again or even so much as _look_ at my room I will not hesitate to strip you of what little magic you possess. Do you understand me?”

Zoe looked up at him incredulously, clearly not believing a word that came from his mouth. “Ok. Sure.”

The old wizard narrowed his eyes then and extended a hand to Zoe. She cautiously took it and stood to her feet. Merlin continued. “That being said, I am greatly intrigued by this trick of yours. I demand you show me how it works, immediately.”

Archie winced as a cruel smile spread across Zoe’s face. “It would be my pleasure.”

This was going to end badly. 

**************

An hour later, the four of them stood outside Douxie’s place of employment. The strong scent of coffee poured out onto the street everytime the door opened. A flood of warm air rushed over the group as they waited outside, waiting for the perfect moment to enter. 

“Everyone got their gemstones?” Archie looked down around his neck, checking for both his chunks of pyrite and quartz. Both were on a necklace, loosely tucked into his service animal vest. The vest was something Zoe had bought a while ago for him and remembered to bring with her on the move. He was currently taking the form of a small, black german shepherd. It was easier for him to get into establishments this way. Besides, the amount of times he’d had to service either Douxie or Zoe made him feel as though he _did_ deserve the title. He had absolutely earned the position of emotional support familiar at this point in his life. Douxie had the legal paperwork to prove that one. 

“Yes, yes. Let’s see if this trick of yours works.” Merlin looked at his own gems and tucked them back into his pocket. Nari, dressed in her tiny green jacket and large hat nodded excitedly. It had been a while since she’d been out of the apartment, Archie sadly remembered. Of course she’d be excited to do anything. 

“Alright then, it’s game time.” Zoe held out her hands and murmured what must’ve been the same words she’d used earlier. “ _Utinam mihi quidem dissimulare_.” A subtle pink glowed in each of the gems and Archie felt Zoe’s familiar magic wash over him. He looked into the window of the cafe and noticed that their reflections looked identical to their actual identities. “Remember, it’ll only work on Douxie so we still gotta stay somewhat low key about it.” Zoe took a step backwards and held the door open for the others. They all filed in and Archie couldn’t help but wonder _what_ exactly their appearances were. 

This was different from shape shifting. Archie always knew exactly how he was deceiving people when he changed shape. But this was something different, almost thrilling. It was like playing a role but having no idea what role you were playing. Archie smiled earnestly. It _had_ been a while since Zoe and he had played a decent prank on Douxie. After giving them a literal death scare, the boy definitely deserved some comeuppance. 

They strolled into the cafe with little resistance, maybe a few “aww’s” from people looking at Archie. Thankfully, no one approached them. The cafe itself wasn’t terribly busy, falling into the mid-afternoon lull. A few people sat at some of the tables but no one was in line. Douxie was behind the counter, organizing his coworkers and delegating tasks. As their group approached the front, he spun around and stepped up to the register, smiling politely. 

“Good afternoon! Thanks for stopping by our shop today, what can get you ladies and gentlemen?” Archie smiled. He seemed to be completely oblivious as to who he was speaking. Judging by his word choice, they were a mixed group. But as to what he was seeing exactly was left up to the imagination. 

Zoe discretely held up her hand, signaling to the others that she was going to speak for them. She pulled on a threatening look and lowered her eyes at her friend. “Hisirdoux Casperan.”

Douxie’s happy customer service face immediately crumbled. He regarded Zoe warily. “I’m sorry sir, do I know you?” Archie coughed because the look on his familiar’s face was _priceless._ Douxie looked down to him nervously before he moved his eyes back up to Zoe. He lowered his voice and attempted a guess at the situation. “Archie? Are you messing with me?”

Had Archie been the one speaking, he definitely would’ve blown their cover. But since Douxie was very obviously speaking to Zoe at the moment, he clearly was grasping at straws. To him, the only rational explanation for this was that Archie had shape-shifted into a stranger as a prank. Which...was not completely false. 

Zoe continued her guise. “Unfortunately for you, no. But we know all about your familiar, Hisirdoux. And your magic.” She smiled strongly. 

All the blood seemed to drain from Douxie’s face. His grip on the sides of the register strengthened until his knuckles turned white and he looked over the group with something akin to either rage or fear. Archie heard an amused huff from behind him and turned around to see both Merlin and Nari thoroughly enjoying their plot. The poor kid had fallen hook, line and sinker almost immediately. 

“What do you want?” His voice was deep and threatening, bordering on wrathful. “Who are you?” And although Archie had been enjoying himself just moments before, this tone of voice forced him into a change of heart instantly. Douxie hardly ever spoke this way, unless he was moments away from attacking. He hardly ever reacted this poorly to a prank. Archie glanced up at Zoe and she looked back down at him. Maybe this wasn’t a great idea. Maybe things were still too dicey with the Arcane Order on the loose.

But for those who didn’t know the modern Douxie as well as Zoe and Archie did, his reaction was just adding fuel to the fire. Nari rushed over to the register, barely able to see over the counter. She smiled happily, gripping the edge like a child and looked up at Douxie. “We’ve found your friends and Nari of the Eternal Forest. Come with us quietly or they shall surely suffer.” She smiled and her eyes flashed golden green with magic for a brief moment, instigating the situation. 

Uh oh. 

Douxie looked around quickly before he physically lowered his stature. He glared at Nari with pure rage. “If you so much as touch any of them I will rip your soul from your body and cast it to the deepest pits of eternal damnation. Your screams will go unheard and you will die alone in agony.” He breathed heavily out of his nose and Archie noticed he was shaking. _That’s a bad sign_. “Now tell me where they are or prepare to take your last breath.” He pulled his left fist off the register and clenched it tightly. Archie heard his bracelet whir in anticipation.

Zoe tried to speak up, but Nari beat her to it. Archie turned around and noticed even Merlin was starting to understand the fragility of the predicament. “Oh, we’ve done much more than touch them, believe me.” Nari’s voice was laced with cruelty and Archie was once again reminded of just how terrifying the demigod could be. Unfortunately, _that_ paired with not knowing social cues enough to stop a practical joke was making a bad situation much worse. 

A flash of blue crossed Douxie’s eyes and his right hand snapped the corner off the cash register. It sparked and popped, causing loose wires to fall out of the electronic system. He audibly growled at Nari and was seconds away from pouncing on her before Zoe uttered the same spell she’d used before. A pink glow appeared over all of them and then faded away. Douxie watched with a horrified confusion as his companions appeared in front of him suddenly, smiling guiltily. He physically stepped back and looked at them with heavy breaths. 

Nari laughed joyously and quoted what Zoe had said earlier. “We _totally_ got you!” Pure glee was scrawled across her face and she glowed with amusement. Douxie just looked back and forth between everyone before setting his jaw. “Please don’t ever come to my work again.” He turned around and walked into the back, the door swinging aggressively on its hinges as he pushed his way through. 

Zoe looked over to Archie, gritting her teeth and making a pained expression. She laughed uneasily. “Heh. At least the spell worked, right?”

************

Everyone waited up for Douxie to come home that night. They’d made him a special dinner (or, Zoe and Archie had) and accompanied it with his favorite cup of tea. He’d immediately thrown offensive gestures their way as soon as he entered the apartment and called them quite a few names. Thankfully, Zoe knew he never held a grudge for very long. After having a few hours to simmer down and receiving an earnest apology, he forgave them. But he did warn that he was now going to start plotting against each and every one of them. “Because you all deserve it. That cash register has to come out of my next paycheck.” He’d said, shaking his head. 

Zoe scoffed. “Ok, but we’re not the ones who told you to suddenly develop super strength and snap it in half. Way to be extra, Doux.” It didn’t take long for them to laugh off the entire endeavor. It didn’t mean that Zoe still didn’t feel bad about it. It _had_ been her idea after all and seeing Douxie get that angry was something she had forgotten she didn’t miss. She would happily go a while without seeing that much rage from him. It just didn’t look right. 

Eventually, Zoe called it a night as she was covering an early shift for someone tomorrow. Despite Douxie’s multiple offers, she insisted she was fine to walk the few blocks back to her own apartment. “You’ve had enough excitement for one day, old man. You’d better get some sleep before your heart gives out or something.” She smiled jokingly and Douxie just shook his head. 

“I will never understand how you came to be so cruel to me. But not to worry, you’ll get what’s coming to you soon enough.” He replied with a wink.

Zoe just blew him back a kiss before she slipped out the door and heard it lock itself behind her. She chuckled to herself as she walked over to the elevator and pushed the ‘down’ button many more times than what was necessary. By the time the doors slid open for her, she slipped her earbuds in and queued up a decent playlist. As she walked out of the apartment building, she began bobbing her head, getting lost in the steady beat and the deep sound of the drums. When Zoe listened to music, she hardly ever listened to the lyrics. It was all about the downbeats, driving the instruments to a beautiful symphony. She blamed Douxie for that. 

About a block and a half away from her own apartment, she heard something scuttle from within a dark alley. Zoe whipped around and furrowed her eyebrows. “Hello?” she asked, pausing her music as she waited for a reply. No one was on the sidewalk and it looked as though no one were in the alley. Her question elicited no response. “Huh.” Zoe reached up to her headphones, about to press the button to resume her music. 

She turned around, back towards the direction she had originally been walking and immediately crashed into a body. Zoe’s immediate reaction was to jump back. She’d ripped the headphones from her ears and whipped her HexTech wand from the pocket of her hoodie within seconds. Zoe stared up at the newcomer, her pink magic already manifesting itself at the end of her wand. 

The person was much taller than she was, probably about Douxie’s height with a similar, thin build. Except it was a woman. She had long, straight blonde hair that fell to her lower back, but it surrounded her shoulders like a cone. Countless flowers, stems and leaves were wound into the golden strands. A scar was visible lining the edge of her jaw, down to her chin and her eyes glowed a toxic green. Her clothes were even more bizarre, as if she’d grabbed one of every pattern in any given store and put it together. Her shirt was black and white striped and she wore an orange flannel over it. She wore bright blue skinny jeans and tye-dye flip flops even though it was nearing winter. Along with the clashing patterns, all of her clothing held a sort of transparent feature to it, and Zoe was convinced that if she stared long enough, she’d be able to see through the woman. Strange. 

Zoe looked the figure up and down. “Can I help you?” She asked, highly suspicious of what was happening. 

The woman moved her head strangely, as if she were getting used to it being attached to her head. “Um. Yes.” She cocked her head to the side, causing her hair to fluidly move with it. “You appear to be a witch?” It came out as more of a question than anything else. 

Zoe kept her guard up, still holding a defensive position but she had a pretty good idea of what was going on here. She looked over to her lit wand and then back to the woman, no, _person_ in front of her. “Um, no. This is just my flashlight. Pretty cool, no?” She smirked back confidently. 

The woman took an uneasy step towards Zoe, her torso jerking as she moved forward. Zoe drew back but couldn’t stop the smile from creeping on her face. Gods, this was _embarrassing_. The woman spoke in a voice that sounded much too fake. “There’s no use in hiding who you are. I know you know the whereabouts of Merlin and those he protects. You will tell me where they are.” She didn’t even sound threatening. More like she was bored. 

Yeah, it wasn’t even worth it. Zoe scoffed and relaxed her position, dropping her arms down to rest on her hips. She shook her head sadly and raised an eyebrow at the person. “Really, this is shameful, Doux. You’re going to use the same trick on me just a few hours after I used it on you? It’s embarrassing. I think Merlin or even Nari could plan a better prank than this.”

The woman smiled curiously and kept approaching. Zoe let her, not even remotely scared of her intentions. Douxie was just making a further fool of himself. After a few more uneasy steps the figure reached out and grabbed Zoe’s forearm tightly. Zoe looked up at her friend, her eyebrows furrowing again. The person’s nails were a little long and were kind of cutting into Zoe’s skin. Good to know the spell remained despite contact. 

“Ugh, and your illusion is like the creepiest person I’ve ever seen. I mean, I know you don’t exactly get to choose it, but seriously.” Zoe was having a hard time keeping the nervousness out of her voice, now. Douxie should’ve broken character by this point. 

The woman simply tightened her grip on Zoe’s arm, causing her nails to dig in deeper. Zoe verbally winced as tried to twist out of it, but the woman was much stronger than she looked. She leaned in until her face was inches away from Zoe’s. “Look at that. You’ve already admitted to knowing both Merlin and Nari. I can tell you’re going to make an excellent hostage.” She chuckled grimly. 

Freezing water suddenly overwhelmed Zoe’s senses and her Intuition hit her like a wave as she realized something was horribly, terribly wrong. The water flowed through Zoe’s veins as a single thought consumed her mind: She’d never taught Douxie the spell. 

The woman smiled cruelly, seeing the fear dawn on Zoe’s face. “A excellent hostage, indeed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof. Poor children and their jumping to conclusions. 
> 
> This is a two part chapter meaning this one was mainly set up (sorry about that). Next chapter will have more action though!


	7. ...When First We Practice to Deceive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyooo!!
> 
> So first off, sorry for falling off the face of the planet for two months, there. Things got wild and I really just defaulted to writing what I could rather than what I needed to. Unfortunately, I lost inspiration for this story for a hot minute there and just didn't do anything with it. BUT, I'm gonna do my best to not do that again, haha. I love this story and I promise I'll see it through to the end, thanks for sticking with it!
> 
> Also, as you might have noticed, I changed the name and summary of this story. Since it's officially got a plot now, it needed a bit of a revamp. Anyway, here's a 7k chapter 7!

Douxie had just pressed _start_ on the dishwasher when the sky erupted in a flash of pink. A sound like a steel beam being split down the middle echoed through their small portion of NYC. The apartment shook as if the ground beneath it had suddenly cracked in half. Immediately, everyone was out in the living room, madly looking around for any threats within the building. 

Well, _almost_ everyone. It only took about 4 seconds for Douxie to realize where he’d seen that kind of electric power before. Fear gripped his heart immediately, squishing it into stillness. Before it began to beat again, he’d launched himself over their kitchen counter and had ripped the apartment door open. No one even had the chance to voice the unanimous questions of _what was that_ before Douxie was throwing himself down five flights of stairs, desperate to get out on the street. 

A few other people followed him out, unable to see the full scene from the limited view of their windows. Unlike his neighbors though, Douxie didn’t stop and stare at the residual magic wisping through the air. Instead, he sprinted towards its source, already prepping his gauntlet for a potential battle. He’d known Zoe far too long to know she would recklessly go about releasing that much magical energy. Hell, in times he’d seen her do so in the past, it was as an absolute Hail Mary (and oh great now he was thinking in American Football terms this _really_ wasn’t good). He swore if Zoe had gotten herself into more trouble than she could handle he was never letting her walk anywhere by herself again. 

Douxie used his shoulders to check numerous people on the sidewalks. Already, he heard police sirens zipping towards him. It was lucky they’d already been alerted of the situation for the sake of civilians, but Douxie wasn’t sure he’d be able to explain any magical scenarios to a crowd of people. He’d never been particularly good at it. “Oh Zoe, please be okay, please be okay, please-” The words stopped suddenly as Douxie’s feet halted the rest of his body. He immediately backtracked and ducked inside a narrow alley, his heart falling to his stomach as he took in the sight. 

In short, it looked like a bomb had gone off. The bricks of each building were (nearly) perfectly intact. Rather, it was the soot on top of them that grabbed his attention. Black arcs crept up the two walls of the alley and extended out on the cement ground. In the center of it all, was a misshapen circle, clearly the epicenter. It looked like a dark starburst - as if someone had gone supernova. The main issue was, there was no trace of anyone around. Zoe wasn’t here. She _had_ been, that much was obvious, but she wasn’t anymore. Douxie wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or worse. 

He decided to go with the latter when he noticed a clear silhouette within the black markings on the wall. Complete with two arms, legs and a head, it was clearly the figure of a person. They must’ve blocked the blast with their body, preventing Zoe’s energy from tainting the wall behind them. Another person had been here. Most likely, they had been an extreme threat, otherwise Zoe wouldn’t have attacked like this. The next questions were who was it, why did they come after her, how they knew to come after, what they used to attack, where they were now-

“Douxie!” Archie’s recognizable voice startled the wizard greatly. He whipped around, already holding an attack spell in his palm. Both parties withdrew at the sight of the other before Douxie released the magic and turned his back to his familiar to inspect the scene again. “What happened??” Archie trotted up next to him, observing what Douxie was looking at. 

“Zoe!” Douxie cried out loudly, not bothering to respond to Archie’s question. He didn’t really have an answer, anyway. “Zoe! Where are you?” He tried to not be unnecessarily loud in case the attacker was still nearby, but he couldn’t stay quiet anymore. If Zoe were around here, he needed to get to her immediately. Releasing that much energy certainly would have wiped her magic reserves. He needed to find her, to figure out what happened, to-

“Hisirdoux, what is the-” Merlin’s voice trailed off as he probably looked over the scene, too. There was a small gasp, most likely from Nari. Seems like the whole gang was here.

“Zoe!” Douxie tried again, lightly cupping his hands around his mouth. He felt panic brimming in his body, his lungs already shuddering for breath. He-he couldn’t do this now, not when so much was a stake, not when she could still be close by. Douxie finally found feeling in his legs and ran further down the alleyway. He frantically ran through the twist and turns of the path, looking for any sign of life before it spit him back out to another main road. Turning around, Douxie saw Archie hot on his heels, following after him. But he didn’t see the one thing he was looking for - he couldn’t find Zoe. 

The wizard couldn’t stop himself from teetering back and falling against the brick wall behind him. He slouched down to the ground, feeling helplessness seeping into his bones. The attacker could have been anyone, any sort of humanoid figure. It could’ve been a member of the Arcane Order. Douxie reached up and gripped his hair, his thoughts starting to spiral. “She can’t fight against the Order, especially if she’s already used that much magic, she can’t-”

“Douxie, shhh,” Archie was on his familiar’s lap, pushing his paws against his shoulders in an aggressive, yet reassuring way. After so many years of worries and anxieties, Archie and Douxie had become rather ept at helping the other calm down. “Just breathe with me for a few seconds.” The boy did as he was told, evening his breath in sync with Archie’s. Surprisingly, it only took a few moments before his lungs were naturally filling with air and his heart rate began to slow to a normal active pace. 

Once he’d more or less gathered himself, Douxie brought himself to look into his familiar’s eyes. “Thanks, Arch.” Just because he’d more or less calmed himself now though, didn’t mean Douxie still wasn’t sick to his stomach, feelings of worry overtaking every ounce of his body. It was strange and impossible to explain, but it almost felt as if _his_ magic had been the one to cause the blast. Obviously, that hadn’t been the case, seeing as he’d been multiple blocks away at the time, but he couldn’t shake the feeling. It was almost as if Zoe’s intuition were coursing through his veins, filling his blood with ice and painting the clear picture that something was very, _very_ wrong. 

“Hisirdoux!” Merlin’s voice called out again, the sounds of two pairs of feet pattering against the cold cement towards him. “Would you care to explain just what-”

A gasp cut him off. “It’s Zoe.” Nari spoke with a level of certainty Douxie had been forcing his thoughts to avoid. “She…” Nari looked around, closing her eyes and listening. “She was attacked here. I can,” she faltered for a moment, “I can feel her nearby, but,” her green eyes snapped open again. “She needs our help. We must-”

“Ah ah ah!” Merlin reached out and grabbed Nari’s arm before she could get more than a few steps away. “I’m going to need a bit more of an explanation before we go charging towards whatever caused those scorch marks back there. And Hisirdoux! Get up off the ground! What are you doing?” Douxie accidentally glared at his master and remained where he was. He wasn’t sure his legs were quite ready for standing yet.

“Zoe caused those marks.” Archie’s steady voice seemed to catch Merlin off guard. Whether it was his tone or the actual words he spoke, Douxie didn’t know. “It’s her most powerful spell for self-defense. If she used it, then something’s very wrong. I agree with Nari. We need to find her immediately.”

Surprisingly, Merlin didn’t instantly protest. Instead, he scanned his eyes across their small group. After a few seconds, he nodded in agreement with Archie. “Very well then This is most likely the work of the Order. Zoe has too much information about all of us. We must get her back as soon as we can to avoid them learning anything they shouldn’t.”

Had Douxie had the energy, he would’ve argued that there were many, _many_ other reasons to find Zoe. As it was, he was only just finding the strength to stand. Some savior he was. 

As if Merlin had heard his thoughts, he turned to his apprentice as he pushed himself to his feet. “Hisirdoux, take Nari back and guard her with your life within the apartment. No matter what happens, we _cannot_ allow the Order to find her. Archie, you’ll come with me.”

“ _What?”_ Douxie’s voice carried much higher into the air that he would’ve preferred, but he couldn’t stop the outrage from bubbling out of him. For _centuries_ , it had been just him, Archie and Zoe. Whenever one of them got in too deep, the others were always there to bail them out. Being told to stay home and leave Zoe’s fate to someone else? No. Not an option. “I don’t think so. I’m coming with you.”

Merlin instantly straightened his shoulders and glared down at Douxie. “Absolutely not. Your magic is still much too unpredictable to be useful in a battle, especially if we’re going up against Bellroc or Skrael. Besides, it’s smarter to go with less people if we have any hope of sneaking in and out. I need you to watch over Nari, make sure nothing happens to her. Do you understand?”

Douxie would’ve breathed fire out of his nostrils had it been in his magical repertoire. “No wa-”

“Doux. It’s okay. I’ll bring her home.” Archie had flashed golden at some point and morphed into his dragon form. He was flapping right in front of Douxie’s face, looking him in the eye as earnestly as he could. “If something goes wrong, I can do my best to send a signal through our link. You can call in reinforcements, then. Maybe have Claire on standby with her portals. But, as much as I hate to say it, Merlin’s right. We can’t allow anything to happen to Nari. You’re the best protector we have. You need to make sure she stays safe.”

Every molecule in Douxie’s body told him to keep arguing, but the look in Archie’s eye made the words die in his throat. “Trust me. And trust Zoe. She’s more powerful than we both give her credit for. Even if that doesn’t work, I can almost guarantee you she’s annoying her captor to death. They’ll probably release her in a few minutes because they can’t handle her obnoxious comments.” 

That part actually warranted a smile from Douxie. He only looked back at Archie, the two of them making a silent promise. _Promise me she’ll be okay._ Nothing more needed to be said on Archie’s part. Douxie knew he’d do everything in his power to bring everyone back in one piece. 

************

Douxie shut the apartment door behind them quietly and immediately fastened every magical and non-magical lock they had in place. He spent the next 10 or so minutes creating three more locks and placing a spell of immobility on the door. After that, he spent about 20 minutes establishing a cloaking spell over their apartment. And after that, he spent another five minutes placing smaller, yet more concentrated cloaking spells over both him and Nari. Once satisfied with his coverage, Douxie began gathering supplies and weapons from around the apartment. It took him less time that he’d hoped it would. By the time an hour had passed, he’d officially run out of things to do. 

Nari watched him as he paced the length of the living room, her head smoothly gliding back and forth, coping his repetitive motions perfectly. Eventually, her confusion at his actions bubbled out in the form of a question. “Is…this a defensive tactic? I don’t understand its effectiveness.” Nari’s words finally halted Douxie, making him realize just how badly he was letting his nerves control him. He sighed loudly and moved to sit next to her on the couch. 

“No, I’m just- it’s just pacing. Humans do it when we’re anxious, though I’m not exactly sure why. Sorry, Nari. I just...they should be back by now, shouldn’t they?” Now that his legs were stilled, his fingers had taken up the movement, twiddling themselves around one another. 

“I’m not very good with human concepts of time, either. Should they be back by now?” She turned to him, her eyes alight with curiosity. Innocent, yet very weathered curiosity. 

Douxie thought about her question for a few moments longer. _Should_ they be back? Honestly, it all depended on where Zoe was. Maybe they were still tracking her down, it was a probable explanation. But the more he considered everything, the more Douxie became aware of just how crucial every minute was. _What if they’ve already been captured? What if there’s some kind of bomb and I’m just wasting time sitting around here? What if they’re bleeding out and every second was the difference between life and death_??

They were valid questions (at least he thought so). This wasn’t a panic-because-Zoe’s-not-home-from-work-yet type of situation. She’d been _taken_. The fact that Douxie didn’t know who had taken her certainly wasn’t helping his nerves. It had to have been the Order, or someone sent by the Order. If they’d somehow been able to find the Manticore then surely they would have been capable of finding other monsters. Their little group had barely survived one encounter with an ancient beast, even with everyone there. Douxie didn’t want to think about the odds of just Merlin and Archie defeating something of the same caliber. After he came to that conclusion, it only took about three seconds for him to make up his mind about what to do next. 

Douxie pushed himself off the couch slightly and turned towards Nari. “We need to go after them. Or, at least, _I_ do. Someone does. I can’t sit around and have them risking their lives like this.”

Nari cocked her head to the side. “But Merlin-”

“Explicitly told us to stay put, yes. For good reason, too. I don’t feel comfortable bringing you into another battle. You’re much too valuable, Nari.” 

At that, her facial expression tightened. Her eyebrows drew together and her mouth upturned in a slight pout. Her eyes brightened marginally with golden energy and Douxie was tempted to scootch back a little. He couldn’t decide if sporting this look made the spirit of the forest look absolutely adorable or terrifying. Her arms crossed over her chest and she looked downwards. “I wish people would stop saying that. Every life is valuable.”

For a moment, Douxie was speechless. He was so used to people combating that same logic he used all the time. To him, everyone was worth saving. Merlin had made it clear centuries ago that some people weren’t _as_ _worth_ saving as others were. For example, when it came to King Arthur, there was no sacrifice too large. But when Douxie almost got himself killed in the forest trying to protect a fawn, Merlin had put him on Slorr duty for two straight months as punishment. According to the old wizard, certain people were just more important. It was a simple equation. 

To Douxie and Nari, however, that wasn’t the case. After studying the forest spirit for a minute more, he finally found a reply. “You’re right, Nari. Every life is valuable. But you _are_ the only thing preventing the Arcane Order from unleashing an apocalypse. Your safety is-”

She snapped her head towards him. “I _understand_ that, but Zoe’s in danger. Merlin and Archie haven’t attempted to make any sort of contact, have they? I don’t trust that they’re okay.”

Douxie had never seen this level of anger from Nari before. It was unsettling, to say the least. The unfortunate thing was, there was nothing but truth to her words. Sure, Archie said he’d use their familiar link if they needed help, but it had been over an hour with no signs of anything. Douxie wasn’t sure how much longer his anxiety would wait. “What do you think we should do about it? I could call-”

“No. I’m sick of you all suffering because of my presence. First the Trollhunter, then Merlin, Morgana _and_ you and now Zoe. We’re going together. I won’t let this happen again.” She pushed herself off the couch and turned to offer her hand to Douxie. “You’re with me?”

All he’d needed was a reason. Douxie smiled and took her hand, using her tug to stand up. “Of course, Nari. But we can’t just burst in wherever they are and start shooting magic. We need a plan.” As he spoke, Douxie’s hand instinctively came up to his chin. He looked off to the side and then around the apartment, looking for anything to give him inspiration. Something to cause a distraction…something they could use to catch whoever had taken Zoe off guard...something-

Douxie’s eyes stopped on one of his black zip-up hoodies hanging on the wall by the door. A cunning smile cut across his face as a terrible plan fell perfectly into place in his mind. “And I think I’ve got just the thing.”

*************

The first thing Zoe noticed was the silence. The second was the deep ache in every single one of her muscles. It felt like she’d just partaken in an intense full-body workout but never took the time to stretch. Even moving her neck to support her head was awful and uncomfortable, but she knew she needed to. Zoe couldn’t remember where she was or what had happened. Most of the time when she felt this way, she’d find herself on Douxie’s couch or in a hotel room. A few times, though, she woke up in less desirable situations. She’d lived far too long to take any state of confusion as a good sign. 

“Ugh. What-” The words died in her mouth as she looked up at the unrecognizable surroundings. It appeared to be some sort of...empty warehouse? Her head moved to the left and right, noticing both of her arms were chained to metal support beams. Thankfully, her feet were still on the ground, but it was pretty obvious her situation was not a good one to be in. 

“Good of you to finally join us.” A grouchy voice caught Zoe’s attention and she painfully craned her neck further to the right. There, she saw two more people chained up. Based on the taller figure accompanied by the cat, Zoe instantly assumed it was Douxie and Archie. As she looked closer, though, she realized that was only half correct. 

“Merlin?” Her voice was scratchy and dry. How long had she been unconscious? And exactly how much magic had she used before that? The power within her felt dangerously low; she wouldn’t be casting any spells for a while longer. “What are you-”

The man cut her off again. “I’d rather not dwell on the details. But I’m working on a plan as we speak, don’t worry.” His arms were also strung above him, leaving his feet to touch the ground. “Unfortunately, our captor seems to have thought of everything. The chains are magic-inhibiting. We’ll have to escape the old fashioned way.” What he meant by that was above Zoe’s mental functioning capacity at the moment. Instead, her eyes were drawn to the still figure by Merlin’s feet. Archie was simply chained to the base of one of the support beams. Even without shape-shifting, he should’ve been able to wriggle his cat body out of that predicament. What scared her though, was his lack of motion. 

“Archie!” She cried out, suddenly frantic for her friend. Her eyes whipped back up to Merlin. “What happened?”

The man opened his mouth to speak but was quickly cut off. A fourth figure entered Zoe’s view and shivers instantly ran through her body. It was the same woman who’d she seen on the street. _That’s_ who abducted her. Everything came rushing back to her with crystal clarity. “Honestly, it was a bit of a um...accident, I believe.” The figure was approaching the three of them slowly. Her long, flowing hair gently swished back and forth with each movement. “My job is to find Nari of the eternal forest, though the order will be pleased when I deliver Merlin as well.” The young woman’s (at least, that’s what her form appeared most similar to) voice was dull and nearly emotionless, almost as if she were bored. She leaned forward when she said Merlin’s name, getting as close to his face as she could. 

When she did, her hair slipped down to the side and revealed her back. Zoe gasped in horror at the sight. There was no skin or muscle there, it looked as if someone had replaced the tissue with a clear window. Zoe nearly upheaved at the sight of the woman’s organs pumping within her. Thankfully, she stood up straight soon after and her long, blonde hair covered everything up again. Zoe was quickly trying to run through creatures to figure out what the _hell_ this lady was, but nothing was coming to mind. If only Archie were conscious, he always was the best of the three of them when it came to monster identification. 

“What do you want with Nari?” Zoe barked out, defaulting to her usual tactics of either annoying her captor or making them angry enough until they made a mistake. By no means was this her first rodeo. 

The creature nearly rolled her eyes as she turned to look at Zoe. “I’m responsible for handing her over to the Arcane Order. Actually, a lot of creatures are out looking for her as we speak. I just happened to be the best at my job. I know she'll attempt to rescue the lot of you eventually. Her and that young wizard.” The creature smiled cruelly at the mention of Douxie. “The best part is, they have no specific use for him. Once I deliver all of you, I’ll have him all to myself.” Zoe’s face withdrew in horror. She did _not_ like the sounds of that. 

“And what exactly to you plan on doing with Hisirdoux?” Merlin still struggled against his bonds, jerking himself threateningly towards the woman. 

In response, she calmly rolled her head in a circle, eliciting a few _cracks_ from her neck. “Heh, what do you think? I’m a Mavka. Young men are kind of our thing.” She made eye contact with Zoe before sneering even more than before. “Bellroc gave me permission to do what I wish with those of you who are expendable. As for those who aren’t, well, I honestly pity you.” She turned her attention back to Merlin, shook her head, and then turned away. Through the movement of her hair, Zoe was able to catch glimpses of the woman’s organs again. She quickly turned her head to avoid the view.

Instead, she looked at Merlin, chained up next to her. “Please tell me Douxie and Nari aren’t our reinforcements.” Zoe wasn’t particularly the jealous type, but she wasn’t a fan of letting _this_ other woman lay her hands on Douxie. She didn’t need to know what a Mavka was to know that it wasn’t a situation she wanted her friend to be in. 

Thankfully, Merlin shook his head. “No, I explicitly told them to stay away. Archie was supposed to contact Hisirdoux in the event that our rescue went poorly.” The wizard turned his head down to inspect the shapeshifter at his feet. His chest moved out steadily, but there were no other signs of life. “Unfortunately, we didn’t quite make it that far. Eventually, either they’ll figure it out and send in the champions of Arcadia or we’ll escape on our own. Enchanted chains like this can only last so long. It shouldn’t-”

“I just love how cocky humans are. You can put them in any situation, but I swear they’ll always think they can find a way out of it.” The woman stopped walking away from them and turned around again. She sat on the top of a wooden crate and happily situated herself against another crate behind it that acted as a back rest. “Unfortunately, I made sure even your stubbornness wouldn’t get you out. Those chains have been enchanted to sap your magic source. The longer they’re on, the weaker you get, but the stronger they’ll become. Your best chance to escape is the moment you’re chained. Clearly, you’ve missed that opportunity. Now, all I have to do is wait. One of you will eventually lead me to my prizes.”

Well, that explained why Zoe felt absolutely miserable. Especially if she’d used her last-resort spell like she thought she remembered using, her magic was all but depleted. Merlin was right, they’d have to break out of here without their power. It was all up to ingenuity. Zoe opened her mouth to quirk back at the woman, once again trying her usual tactics during these situations, but the thought died when the doors to the warehouse opened slightly, allowing a small figure to enter. 

Whoever they were, it was instantly made obvious they were a creature of magic. Their feet hovered about two feet off the ground (and...were they wearing socks?). The rest of their body was covered in some sort of black covering. If Zoe had to guess, she would’ve said it was a sweatshirt, but the way it swayed in the nonexistent wind led her to believe it was some sort of shawl or dress. Large antlers extended from their head, but again...it looked like socks were hanging off the edges of them. Weird. 

The person’s presence caused Zoe’s captor to snap to attention. The girl pushed herself off her crate and got to one knee, bowing in front of the floating figure. “Skrael. I-I didn’t expect you so soon. I’m still waiting on Nari and the young wizard to arrive. It shouldn’t be much longer, now.”

Zoe’s eyes went wide at the name. Oh, buckets. If Skrael were really here, then their escape plan just became much more complicated. On the other hand, the spirit of the Northwind appeared...less than impressive. He almost looked like a kid who’d forgotten to put together a Halloween costume until the day before. Maybe this war wasn’t unwinnable, after all. 

A sudden movement beside her nearly made Zoe scream. She would’ve, too, had a hand not clamped over her mouth. Another hand held her neck straight, preventing her from turning to see who it was, and preventing her from rattling her chains too much. “Shhhh, Zoe, it’s me. Please stay quiet or this could go bad quickly.” Zoe’s heart stopped thrashing the instant she recognized Douxie’s voice. As soon as the moment of relief was over, though, it was replaced with more panic. Hadn’t Merlin said Nari and Douxie _weren’t_ the reinforcements???

Regardless, she remained absolutely motionless as Douxie quickly began working on her chains. Within a few seconds, he’d snapped the left one off, caught it, and gently laid it against the metal beam. Zoe looked up to the Mavka. She was still talking with Skrael, none the wiser of what was happening behind her. Douxie instantly began working on Zoe’s right hand, catching the attention of Merlin. 

The man’s eyes grew wide as he saw the figure. He craned his neck backwards to try and get a better look at the person. Zoe was surprised to see fury burn through his features as he loudly cried out towards Douxie. “Step away from her!” His voice was gritty and deeply angered. Zoe’s jaw dropped as the shackle snapped off her wrist and the last of the magic-sapping energy left her body. Why would Merlin blow their cover like that??

At the sudden commotion, the Mavka suddenly turned over her shoulder, more confusing gracing their features. “Bellrock! I didn’t expect you, either!” She awkwardly changed the direction she was facing, while remaining on her knees out of respect. 

Zoe whipped around to finally face her rescuer. This close to his face, it was easy to tell it was Douxie, but he looked absolutely ridiculous. What appeared to be a mass amount of cheap, black boas were wrapped around his neck, concentrated at the back. He still wore his normal black clothes but a skirt with three large rips fell over both of his hips and down the front of his legs. One of their long cloaks they liked to break out for costume parties was wrapped around his neck, paired with an ugly set of red shoulder pads she was sure she’d told him to throw out in the 90’s. A bandana was wrapped over his eyes, marker scribbles covered his face and...was he using their red mop head as a wig?? Douxie must’ve noticed Zoe looking at him and smiled, but it was quickly replaced with a sneer. He grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her back. There was no pressure and Zoe easily could’ve escaped had she wanted to, but she was also a fast learner. Douxie must’ve dressed up as Bellroc to fool their captor. And Skrael over there? It had to have been Nari, also in a disguise, complete with white socks over her normally beige antlers. 

“That’s right, you didn’t!” It sounded like Douxie was impersonating a snake rather than an ancient spirit of fire, but Zoe could critique his performance once they were out of here. “You see, we don’t trust you. We never have. You’ve already wasted too much time and your results are subpar.” He walked closer to the Mavka, shoving Zoe to be extra persuasive. She looked behind her to glimpse at Douxie, but she was only able to see Merlin’s inquisitivie face. By this point, he had to have figured out something was up. Douxie actually wasn’t a bad actor, but this costume was absolutely appalling. Had no one’s life been at stake, Zoe would’ve fallen over laughing. 

The Mavka, however, must have never actually met the Arcane Order. She simply stayed on one knee, her head bowed to the ground. She only glanced up briefly a few times. Clearly, it wasn’t enough to observe any specific details about the two newcomers. She spoke towards Douxie, her voice shaking. “B-but I’ve captured Merlin. And two of the others. Surely they can be of some use to us? I’m certain Nari and the others will come looking for them.”

Douxie loudly growled at the woman (but it sounded _so fake!_ ), used Zoe as a shield to pull a spell from his bracelet, and threw a ball of fire near the Mavka. The creature scuttled away to avoid getting burned and whimpered in fear as Douxie stood next to Nari. He shoved Zoe further away from him, glancing her way briefly. Although his eyes were covered by thin fabric, the message was clear. _Get out of here._ “We have no use for this hedge witch! Nor the shapeshifter. What we _need_ is Nari!” Maybe it was just the adrenaline, but the tone of that sentence actually scared Zoe a little. She did a double take before sprinting towards the door of the warehouse. 

Once she reached it, she threw the doors open and slipped outside. Zoe immediately ducked behind one side, purposefully out of view from everyone inside. She heard Douxie continue to berate the Mavka and took the moment as a distraction. Quietly slipping back inside the warehouse, Zoe used the crates as coverage to slink back to Merlin and Archie. Douxie and Nari were doing a fantastic job of holding the Mavka’s attention, but she knew it would only last for so long. Unfortunately, Zoe had almost no magic available to her to break Merlin’s chains. But maybe...maybe something else could work. 

She slipped her hand into her back pocket and found exactly what she needed — a bobby pin. Thank mercy she’d been wearing these jeans last week when she was trying out some new hairstyles. Reaching up to start picking the lock on the shackles, Zoe murmured “the old fashioned way…” under her breath. Merlin quietly sighed, but didn’t complain when his right hand was free. Now all she needed was his left hand and Archie. Then they could leave and never look back. 

Just as she was reaching up for the last shackle, the Mavka looked towards them. The woman’s eyes grew wide as she saw Zoe. She snapped to her feet, pointing a finger at her prisoners. “Hey! She’s freeing him!”

Zoe watched Douxie’s eyebrows arch high on his face when he noticed the Mavka's see-through back. He yelped a pathetic sound and withdrew into himself, causing the woman to turn towards him. She cocked her neck to the side, seeing him clearly for the first time. “Wait a second...you’re not-”

Green magic blasted the Mavka 20 feet backwards into the nearest stack of crates before she could finish her sentence. The impact knocked her down for a little while, but she almost instantly began crawling her way out of the pile of wood. Douxie took the cue and sprinted towards Merlin. Zoe managed to unlock his other shackle right as Douxie knelt next to Archie, Nari floating above them. He broke the chains and gathered his familiar in his arms. Archie blinked a few times before focusing on the face above him. “Douxie…? What _are_ you wearing?”

“Well, well. Look who it is!” The Mavka was on her feet again, her skin and clothes turning more translucent as she spoke. “I _knew_ my plan would work! I _knew_ I could lure you here, Nari. And, it appears my bonus has come along too. How convenient.”

Recognizing his cover was blown, Douxie threw off most of his costume, leaving only the drawings on his face and cape. Archie looked up at their attacker, his eyes widening suddenly. “Wait, Douxie, don’t-”

Whatever warning he was going to give came a few seconds too late. The Mavka pulled a flower from her hair and ignited it with her magic. A wave swept over the room, covering each of them in magic before they could do anything about it. Zoe reopened her eyes and inspected herself, noticing she was perfectly fine. 

Douxie, however, was not fine. His shoulders went slack as he dropped Archie without a second thought. His eyes glazed over and he just stood there, staring at the Mavka. Zoe quickly looked around: thankfully no one else seemed to be affected. But _why?_ Archie hit the ground roughly, not even trying to catch himself. Great, they were down both the wizard and familiar again. Neither she nor Merlin had gained their strength back for much magic, either. That left one player on their side of the field.

“Curses, Hisirdoux, I told you and Nari to stay put!” Merlin griped loudly, weakly throwing a spell on his apprentice. The effort seemed to exhaust the old man, but Douxie quickly snapped out of whatever trance he’d momentarily been in. 

“What-” His question went unanswered as Nari threw another surge of her green magic at the Mavka. 

Zoe gripped Douxie’s shoulders and pushed him towards the battle. “Banish her to Limbo, quickly!!” 

Douxie still seemed awfully confused, but he recognized enough to pull out the appropriate spell. The Mavka pulled another flower from her hair, attempting to cast the same magic on Douxie, but this time he beat her to the punch. A swirling portal opened on the warehouse floor beneath her. Blue arms exploded from the void and gripped her legs. She fought, scratching the cement floor as Douxie’s magic dragged her into the other realm. Although Zoe had seen him do this a million times, she was surprised by the aggression of the magic this time. It almost seemed like his ability to open Limbo had gotten stronger or something. 

Thankfully, it was working in their favor. The Mavka was only able to shriek out a few more curses before she was entirely sucked in. The portal closed in on itself and the blue light died, leaving them all to the silent, dark warehouse. Douxie breathed heavily from effort as Zoe and Merlin weakly swayed back and forth, all of their energy sapped. Archie was still coming to terms with what was happening around him. Out of all of them, Nari was the least affected, angrily staring down the spot where the Mavka had disappeared. 

Archie broke the silence first. “Well, it’s been a quite a while since I’ve seen one of them.” He turned to look at Douxie who stared back at his familiar curiously. “She’s a Mavka. Rather interesting creatures, actually. Their skin is translucent and they use that ability to weave translucent clothing, too. Back in the day, they would grow special flowers and use them to enchant young men to wander alone to the forests. Supposedly they tickle them to death.”

Douxie tilted his head in awe at that. Still catching his breath, he glared incredulously at Archie. “Are...are you serious?” Archie just shrugged. Douxie looked back up to where the portal had closed. “That’s pretty messed up.”

“Okay, but are we going to gloss over the elephant in the room? Like the fact that the Order clearly knows where we all are?” Zoe’s eyes were still wide, concern flowing deeply through her veins. Her intuition was warm, telling her all threats were gone, but adrenaline kept her heart rate elevated. 

“I believe they have known for some time, now.” Nari finally turned to everyone else, but she looked at Merlin specifically. “You need to tell them.” 

Zoe, Douxie and Archie immediately followed her gaze. “Tell us what?” Douxie spoke for all of them. 

Merlin deeply sighed, his shoulders falling in defeat. “The Order knows where we are and they’ve been sending monsters out for us. Monsters from Limbo. I don’t know how, but Nari and I believe they’ve figured a way to resurrect them and bring them back into this realm.”

No one said anything for a while. Zoe’s mind was already spinning from being attacked, kidnapped, chained and attacked again. She didn’t really have the focus to fully comprehend _this_ too. “Wait, wait, what do you mean? We just sent that lady into the Limbo. Are you saying she might just pop back out and come after us again?”

Merlin stared at Nari as he answered. “Among other things, that’s a possibility, yes.” Silence fell over everyone again before Merlin spoke again. “We should discuss this elsewhere, somewhere safer. Who knows what’s out here.”

“Yeah, _who knows_?” Douxie spoke up suddenly. His voice sounded like acid, spewing from his mouth all over his mentor. “Certainly not me or Archie. Certainly not Zoe who could’ve been _killed_ because you kept this information from us!” His volume greatly increased at the end of his sentence. Douxie’s eyes were wide with anger, staring at Merlin in disbelief. 

The older wizard simply held up his hand. “Hisirdoux, you must understand-”

“Nothing. I don’t understand anything. You _knew_ this might happen and you decided to keep it from us? Why??”

Merlin’s face quickly turned from sympathy to anger as Douxie yelled at him. Honestly, Zoe was surprised. She had been sure she was the one who was going to lose it on Merlin first. Seeing Douxie blow a gasket was always kind of a fun ordeal, but it was doubly entertaining this time because of who he was reprimanding. Despite the pure enjoyment Zoe derived from it, she recognized just how upset Douxie must’ve been. If anything, she needed to remove _him_ from the situation. They could deal with all of this later when he’d had some time to work through all of this. 

“Hisirdoux, telling you all would have changed nothing. I have no solution yet, I don’t know-”

“Then we could’ve _helped_ you!” Douxie threw his hands wildly in the air, exploding with pure rage for the first time in a long time. “We could’ve worked on this together! Had I known the Arcane Order was right in our backyard, I would’ve acted with much more caution! I would never have let Nari come here! I never would've let you and Archie come alone! I never would’ve let Zoe walk home alone!”

Aaaand, that was her cue. Sure, Douxie was mad at Merlin for keeping information, but he was mainly furious because Zoe had been the one in danger. All of his frustration was coming out at the old man at once, whether or not it was rightfully placed. Most likely, Douxie was internalizing guilt again. He probably assumed this was all his fault for letting Zoe walk by herself. She had half a mind to roll her eyes. He’d always been so overprotective. 

Zoe stepped forward gently, draping her hands over Douxie’s shoulders and placing her hands on his chest. “Hey, Doux, it’s okay. We’re all okay. You have every right to be mad, but we need to get somewhere safe first, alright?” He nodded slightly, but continued staring Merlin down. 

The man stared back at his apprentice, his own gaze filled with anger. “Listen to the girl, Hisirdoux. You’re acting like a child.”

Archie gently shook his head and muttered under his breath. “Oh, here we go.”

Douxie was a millisecond away from going nuclear on Merlin before Zoe pulled roughly on his right arm, spinning him around to face her. Whatever words he’d had queued up died in his throat as she forced them to make eye contact. “Not here, Doux. Please, we need to get Nari to safety.” Almost all the anger in his features died as he gazed at Zoe’s face. She could tell he was checking her over for injuries by the way his eyes skipped around her face. 

“Ok.” He finally relented. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” Merlin chimed in, causing Douxie to immediately whip around toward him again. 

“Not you, Merlin.” Douxie’s tone was collected now, but it was still easy to hear the wrath beneath his control. “We were supposed to work together as a team, this time. There aren’t supposed to be any secrets like there always were in Camelot. You gifted me my staff, you said you _trusted_ me as a Master Wizard. But your actions are so much louder than your words. Clearly, you trust no one but yourself, and that’s just not how I operate. Archie, Zoe and I have survived this long because we rely on one another. Apparently, that’s a concept you’re still getting used to.” Zoe held her breath in anticipation of Merlin’s reply. She was hardly believing the venom falling out of Douxie’s mouth. 

“Hisirdou-”

“And don’t you dare ‘Hisirdoux’ me,” His eyes glowed with power as Merlin’s posture shrunk backwards ever so slightly. Douxie bent down and picked up Archie, comfortably supporting him with one hand. With the other, he grabbed Zoe’s hand tightly and began walking away. “Nari, you’re staying with us at Zoe’s apartment tonight. If Merlin thinks he can handle all of this alone, then that’s on him. I’m not risking anyone else’s safety because of it.”

Zoe watched Nari carefully as she sent Merlin a look of pity. Accepting the temporary defeat, Merlin solemnly nodded to her. She’d be much safer with two sorcerers and a shapeshifter than she would be with just him. Nari appeared regretful as she ran after the others. Douxie didn’t look back once as he dragged everyone else out of the warehouse, leaving Merlin standing alone in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, that's rough buddy. So I found out about the Mavka online and was like "oh, they're kinda translucent? that's cool" and then I found out they tickled their victims and I just...yeah. Weird. But I still included it 'cause I was just too committed at that point.
> 
> I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, but it's not going to take me 10 weeks again, I promise! As always, thank you for reading!
> 
> Ope, and I also made my first attempt at drawing the babeys from this chapter. Check it out on my tumblr: https://constantconfusion14.tumblr.com/post/642876652766068736/one-thing-after-another-chapter-7


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